Tony Hillerman’s Cultural Metaphysics

Abstract

Tony Hiller man’s novels embody much that has changed in the detective fiction of the last thirty years. Since the re-emergence and development of metaphysical ideas in the detective story, a phenomenon which heralded, in part, a reconnection with some of the founding principles exhibited by Poe, the genre has broadened its thematic horizons considerably. These innovations have seen the detective story become infinitely more inclusive of different cultures away from the traditional representation of western values towards an increasing body of work on gender and racial politics, cultural diversity and, importantly for these pages, an acceptance of the supernatural. For many of these reasons, Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn/ Jim Shee series of detective novels are pointers into a future where supernatural ideas can find new and enriching ways to co-exist with the conventions of the genre. They are texts, too, which frequent the borders of interpretation; all of them may be read as conventional detective stories while simultaneously embracing metaphysical ideas that draw attention to the profound nature of spiritual belief and its relationship with the natural world.¹ They posit, too, the tensions between two very different cultures, the mystical traditions of the Navajo way of life and that of the crime story and its investigation.

The pale-face s are masters of the earth, and the time of the red-men has not yet come again... (James Fenimore Cooper (1789–851), The Last of the Mohicans)