Anne Hillerman came to New Mexico as a child with her mother, Marie, and her father, Tony Hillerman. She grew up in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, the eldest of the family’s six children. She received a journalism degree from the University of New Mexico and worked as a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist before becoming a full-time author.

She is honored to continue the mystery series Tony Hillerman created. Anne’s debut novel, Spider Woman’s Daughter,  follows the further adventures of the characters her father made famous, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. It places one of Tony’s supporting characters, officer Bernadette Manuelito, in the spotlight to make the series her own. Released by HarperCollins, the book received the Spur Award from Western Writers of America for the Best First Novel of 2013.

The fifth, The Tale Teller, returns Joe Leaphorn to his role of protagonist and crime solver in a case that has ties to the Navajo’s Long Walk. While Leaphorn is hard at work, Bernie and Chee travel to the Canyon de Chelly/Chinle area to solve an unexplained murder and the theft of an old man’s prized possession.

Anne also is the author of the award-winning Tony Hillerman’s Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn, created with husband/photographer Don Strel, and honored as the best photo book of the year by the Mountains and Plains Booksellers.

In addition to working on the next novel, Anne is a director of Wordharvest Writers Workshops, a past board member of Western Writers of America, and a staunch supporter of public libraries.