Customer Reviews

Tony Hillerman's Indian Country Map & Guide

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[ A SECOND EDITION IS NOW AVAILABLE! ! ! ! ]

Too bad for me this came out after I'd read most of Hillerman's mystery books. Lucky you if you haven't read them yet.

You can't use any old map as a companion for the Hillerman series, because most maps use criteria that don't fit sparsely populated areas or Navajo culture. Typical maps of the entire reservation portray it as mostly empty space.

The legendary AAA map that Leaphorn uses in the mysteries is excellent, but more detail than you need if you just want to follow along with the books. It also doesn't include fictitious features like "Short Mountain". (The "Guide to Indian Country" is free for AAA members. Not all offices carry it; I got mine from the Phoenix office.)

Another reviewer complained that this isn't a real map because it concentrates on places in the Hillerman series. But if you're just reading the series, that's exactly what you want: a specialized companion to the books.

This isn't really a map; it's an artistic drawing of the area, concentrating on places in the Hillerman series. If you're a huge fan, you may want to make it into a wall poster; but for a real map of the area, get what Leaphorn himself uses - the AAA map of Indian Country. It's free, far more detailed, and far more accurate. At $... this would be a nice addition; but at this price I felt ripped off. Get the AAA map instead and save the money.

When I ordered this map, I think I was expecting Lt. Leaphorn's legendary crime map. I didn't get it and I think my overly high expectations have kept me from enjoying this map as much as I might have. The map has some problems. I don't care for the oblique view. Some of the border art is not that well done and it's distracting. I wish they hadn't put the compass points diagram in the middle of the map. The map does have pretty much all the real places mentioned in Hillerman's books (I'm going to give up looking for Short Mountain). Now that I have this map I'm going to have to go back and reread all the books and find all the places that weren't in my Rand McNally atlas. There are some serious spoilers (especially for People of Darkness) in the site descriptions on the back. So be careful if you haven't read all the books yet.

"No other contemporary writer knows the Southwest like Tony Hillerman.
Now, for the first time, events, locations, and quotations taken from each Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn mystery can be traced in one of America's most majestic and haunting landscapes.

Whether a first time reader or an avid fan,
THIS IS THE PERFECT COMPANION MAP AND GUIDE TO BRING TO LIFE each of the Hillerman Indian Country mysteries."
[from the map]