Tony Hillerman, who died in 2008 at the age of 83, was a master of the detective genre and an important writer in detailing life on the Navajo reservation. In this interview with the late Richard A. Lupoff for the Probabilities radio series recorded in January 1987, he discusses his early years, his service during World War II, and his relationship with Native American tribes and the belief systems of the Navaho, This first of four Probabilities/Bookwaves interviews conducted over a fifteen eyar period, was digitized, remastered and edited by Richard Wolinsky in August 2023 and has not been heard in over thirty years.