As a journalist, Hillerman has worked for newspapers in Oklahoma and for UPI. He has been a political reporter in Santa Fe, a professor of journalism and chair of the journalism department at the University of New Mexico, and assistant to the president of that university. The American Southwest and its landscape and peoples, particularly the Navajo, are the focus for many of Hillerman's mysteries. He hopes that people learn more about Native Americans and their cultures by reading his books, and he draws upon their many traditions and stories for his novels. Thus, as people read Hillerman's work, they are learning about another culture and history as well as enjoying a finely crafted… mystery. His two detectives---Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn---first came together in Skinwalkers (1987). Tony Hillerman's many honors include the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar & Grand Master awards, the Silver Spur Award for best novel set in the West, & the Navajo tribe's Special Friend Award. His best-selling novels include "The First Eagle", "The Fallen Man", & "Finding Moon".