Book Review

Tony Hillerman, author of the Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee

mysteries, sounds like a really nice guy. He has written many non-fiction books as well as at least 16 mysteries, and has been a journalist and college professor. He remains, however, in his own eyes, a "country boy."

Seldom Disappointed is a memoir. It seems that everyone is writing memoirs these days ("I always knew I had a book in me"), but one by an eminent writer deserves our attention.

"I intend this to be a recitation of good luck and happy outcomes but my mind turns up only fiascoes and misfortunes." The fiascoes make for entertaining reading, but the reader is left agreeing with Hillerman that he has indeed been lucky.

He grew up in Oklahoma, in a warm and loving family. He didn't know he was poor until much later, and he made his first phone call when he was in the army. Phone lines and electricity were not present in rural Oklahoma in that day.

Some of his best stories concern his life in the infantry during World War II. He was awarded the Silver Star and was seriously wounded later. He thought that others deserved the medal more than he did, and the ability of a newspaper reporter and the Army citation writer to "convert grubby reality into high drama" led him to journalism school after the war. He found good fortune in his wounds because they got him out of combat before he was killed as many of his friends were.

"Blessed are those who expect little," mama would say. "They are seldom disappointed."

Hillerman gives a chronological account of his life, through college on the G.I. Bill to work on several newspapers, to teaching journalism and assisting the college administration. Properly modest, he still draws a picture of an intelligent, compassionate reporter and professor. He is still married to "the love of my life" and writes lovingly of their five children.

Although he had published nonfiction, his agent was not enthusiastic about his novel writing. He changed agents, and the rest, as they say, is history. He wanted to tell about the Indians whom he knew and appreciated and found that he could weave suspenseful stories around their culture.

He has been honored by the Center for the American Indians' Ambassador Award, and readers are still surprised to learn that he is not himself an Indian.

An appendix lists his books with notes about how he decided to write them and how they evolved. Hillerman fans need to read this book, but so do those of us who enjoy quiet humor and remembrance of things past.

Seldom Disappointed is available at the Mary Willis Library.