On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn - Tony Hillerman's Landscape

Wonderful book! If you like Tony Hillerman's novels, you should check out his daughter, Anne's books. She has picked up on a couple of his characters and made them her own in her two recent books; both are terrific reads.

We have read all the Hlllerman books and travelled extensively through the Four Corners area, but we were still unfamiliar with many of the places mentioned in the books. This book helped quite a bit. It may be of interest to one who has not read any of the books, but will certainly be beneficial to his readers. The book is grouped in loose collections, book by book, for example, the Zuni stories. This means the book can be read as needed. There is a bried overview of the book with commnets by Hillerman usually about why he wrote it. Then there are quotes from the book concerning the landscape followed by narrative and photos. Having visited the area, I frankly found the photos wanting. Inspite of the shortcoming, the book was helpful, informative, and somewhat entertaining. We would recommend it for anyone who has enjoyed Chee and Leaphorn as they traversed the Four Corners.

Each book she writes is better than the last, this one was good. I understand she wants to separate herself from her father, but these are his characters, I wish she wrote more about Leaphorn than Bernie....just sayin...I loved that character and to see him as a footnote is difficult. I'm not a big Bernie fan...sorry.
But if you loved Tony's characters or are new to the genre this is a good read.

If you don't know Hillerman, this is your essential guide to these wonderful tales of the desert southwest, strongly centered on the widely spread Navajo and the cloistered Pueblo peoples. You will gain an understanding of the land and its people. As a long-time reader I envy you and wish that there had been such a guide when I started. The book is laid out in chronological order of writing, with two exceptions for special topics, and this is a good order in which to read the tales. Each chapter shows the original book cover (which are not the ones on current paperbacks) and then gives an outline synopsis (useful if you can't remember if you already read this one) and a bit of background information as well as comments by Tony Hillerman himself. Tony was obviously very involved with this book, credited to his daughter Anne.
Why not five stars? Well, while the pictures are much better than other similar books, many are indeed muddy, as a professional has pointed out, and a few are badly composed or against the light. The dust cover is exceptional. I think there should have been maps included, a remark others have made about similar books by other authors.
Update: originally I wrote "I am curious to see how the photos come out on a color Kindle app" and while I have not yet had that opportunity, I have "looked inside this book" at this the store site with an iPad and found the pictures somewhat brighter. One would really hope that they did not make the electronic version simply by scanning book pages, but that may well be the case. I will probably buy a Kindle copy, as this is an essential book for Hillerman readers.

This could have been an almost indispensable guide to the settings of Tony Hillerman's wonderful stories. However, the book has been let down by two things. First of all, many of the photographs are poor and dark, as many have pointed out already. Secondly the book cries out for a map / some maps of the region covered, to show the relative locations of the places and features mentioned and described. Would have been worth five stars otherwise as the text is very well written, concise and informative.

As a former desert rat who walked the canyon country and rattled alon it roads I enjoyed accompanying Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelto on their journeys. this book enabled me to once again savor the landscapes, the solace of solitude in one of the most magnificent places on earth. Well writtten. The Hillermans have been a real gift. I read the Kindle version, so the photography is more of a snapshot quality, but are enough to evoke my own experiences. I feel a road trip coming on!

I was really excited to get this book, especially after reading the reviews here. When it came, though, I was really disappointed because so many (most, really) of the photos are dark and muddy... not just "moody" with dark shadows, but genuinely poor reproduction that is dark throughout all the ranges. They just look muddy, and much of the detail--which I am sure was in the digital originals--is just gone. Maybe I got a poorly printed copy; I ordered it online and did not see it until it came. Had I picked it up at a bookstore and flipped through it, I would never have bought it because of the printing quality. Too bad, because it is an interesting book, and I've enjoyed reading what I have so far. But I was looking for a coffee-table type photo book, and this sure did not meet my expectations.

I used to be a print buyer, by the way, so I do understand how poor printing (or separations, whatever) can affect the outcome of a book. If this one had better reproduction, it would have been delightful.