Selling Anne Hillerman Books in Albuquerque
Spider Woman's Daughter, Rock with Wings, Song of the Lion, Cave of Bones, The Tale Teller, Stargazer, The Sacred Bridge, The Way of the Bear, and the continuation of the Leaphorn / Chee / Manuelito series Chee & Manuelito series
Anne Hillerman · 1949–
Anne Hillerman is Tony Hillerman's daughter, a Santa Fe-based journalist and nonfiction writer who, after her father's death in 2008, resumed the Navajo Tribal Police detective series and has written eight additional Leaphorn / Chee / Manuelito novels between 2013 and 2024. She added Officer Bernadette Manuelito as a full viewpoint character — a dimension her father hinted at but never fully developed. Her first editions are the continuation of what is already the most-collected New Mexico literary mystery series. Her signature pool is open.
Last verified May 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred
Pillar Contents
- Why collect Anne Hillerman
- The books — first editions by year
- Film & television adaptations
- Estate-shelf fingerprint
- Pricing & condition notes
- What not to do
- First edition identification: title by title
- Photos: signed first edition Song of the Lion
- Tony Hillerman estate connections
- What these collections are worth
- Frequently asked questions
- Related pillars
Why collect Anne Hillerman
Because the Leaphorn/Chee/Manuelito series is the single most-collected NM/Southwest literary mystery series of the last fifty years, and Anne Hillerman’s eight continuation novels are the living expansion of that series. Every Tony Hillerman collector eventually moves to Anne Hillerman. The 2013 first of Spider Woman’s Daughter (the resumption) is the key piece. The set-completion premium — owning all eight Anne Hillerman firsts in jackets in matched condition — is significant because the series is ongoing and collectors who complete the set today will have the backlist when the series is older.
Anne Hillerman — first editions by year
Spider Woman's Daughter
2013 · HarperCollinsThe resumption. HarperCollins hardcover first. Key piece of the continuation set.
Rock with Wings
2015 · HarperCollinsBook 2 of the continuation. Hardcover first.
Song of the Lion
2017 · HarperCollinsBook 3. Hardcover first.
Cave of Bones
2018 · HarperCollinsBook 4. Hardcover first.
The Tale Teller
2019 · HarperCollinsBook 5. Hardcover first.
Stargazer
2021 · HarperCollinsBook 6. Hardcover first.
The Sacred Bridge
2022 · HarperCollinsBook 7. Hardcover first.
The Way of the Bear
2023 · HarperCollinsBook 8. Hardcover first.
Lost Birds
2024 · HarperCollinsBook 9. Hardcover first.
Tony Hillerman's Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn
2009 · HarperCollinsNonfiction photography/text book, co-photographed with Don Strel. Tribute volume to Tony Hillerman's settings.
Santa Fe Flavors: Best Restaurants and Recipes
2008 · Gibbs SmithNonfiction. Pre-resumption regional title.
Film & television adaptations
- Dark Winds (AMC, 2022–) — the television continuation of the Leaphorn/Chee series draws primarily on Tony Hillerman's original novels (seasons 1-2) but expects to draw on Anne Hillerman's Manuelito material in later seasons.
Estate-shelf fingerprint
Anne Hillerman estates overlap extensively with Tony Hillerman estates — the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Farmington, Gallup, and Four Corners household that read Tony Hillerman as the quintessential Navajo Tribal Police procedural and has continued with Anne’s continuation. Often the Anne Hillerman firsts arrive in pristine condition (the collector bought the hardcover and shelved it) alongside well-read Tony Hillerman paperbacks. Signed-in-stock copies from Santa Fe events at Collected Works, Op.Cit. Books, and Santa Fe festivals are common and carry a small premium.
Pricing & condition notes
2013 HarperCollins Spider Woman’s Daughter first editions in jacket land in the mid double figures unsigned, low three figures signed. The rest of the continuation series (2015–2024) runs in the mid double-digit range as unsigned firsts, low three figures signed. Matched-set complete-run premiums apply when all eight (or nine with Lost Birds) are present in matched jackets. Use the book condition grading guide to assess where your jackets fall before reaching out.
What not to do
Do not shelve Anne Hillerman books as Tony Hillerman books — they are by different authors and are separate first editions. Do not assume signed copies are valuable without verifying the signature against known Anne Hillerman exemplars — the signed books authentication guide covers what to look for. Do not clip the 2013 Spider Woman’s Daughter jacket — jacket condition drives the collectible premium.
First edition identification: title by title
Every Anne Hillerman novel is published by HarperCollins (Harper imprint). Identifying true first editions requires checking three points on every copy: the copyright-page number line, the stated edition language, and the jacket design. Below is a title-by-title breakdown of what to look for. If you need help assessing the condition of your jackets, use the book condition grading guide before reaching out.
Spider Woman’s Daughter (2013)
Look for the Harper hardcover with the number line reading down to 1 on the copyright page and the words “First Edition” stated above the number line. The true first-edition jacket features a desert-canyon landscape in warm orange and red tones. Later printings drop the 1 from the number line. This is the most valuable title in the continuation series because it marked the resumption of the Leaphorn/Chee franchise after Tony Hillerman’s death. Copies signed at the October 2013 launch event in Santa Fe carry the highest premium. The book club edition (BCE), if one exists, will lack a price on the jacket flap — always confirm the jacket-flap price is present.
Rock with Wings (2015)
HarperCollins hardcover, same number-line protocol. The title references Tse Bit’a’i (Shiprock) in Navajo. Confirm “First Edition” on the copyright page and the number line descending to 1. The jacket design features a Navajo landscape with Shiprock formation. This is the second-most-collected title because it established Anne Hillerman as a credible continuation author rather than a one-book curiosity. Readers who shelved Spider Woman’s Daughter without reading it often started buying the series in earnest with Rock with Wings.
Song of the Lion (2017) — ISBN 978-0-06-239190-2
HarperCollins hardcover first. Same identification protocol — “First Edition” stated, number line to 1. Set partly around the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. By this point in the series, Anne Hillerman had built a stable readership and first-printing runs were larger than the 2013 debut, which means first printings are more common in circulation but still command a premium over later printings. This is the third book in Anne’s continuation of the Leaphorn/Chee series (after Spider Woman’s Daughter and Rock with Wings), and it’s the title I find myself reaching for when someone asks what a signed Anne Hillerman first edition actually looks like in hand.
Here’s a copy I pulled from my sorting desk — a signed and inscribed first edition, first printing of Song of the Lion. I’ve photographed all four key surfaces so you can see exactly what to look for: the dust jacket design, the inscription and signature on the title page, the copyright page confirming first edition status, and the back cover with its critical-praise blurbs.
17 18 19 20 21 LSC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. That “1” at the end of the number line is the key — if it’s missing, you have a later printing. The HarperCollins 200th anniversary logo is also visible, dating this to the 2017 print run.
This is what a collectible signed Anne Hillerman first edition looks like when it comes across my desk. The inscription, the first-edition statement, the intact number line, and the original dust jacket in clean condition — that’s the full checklist. If you’ve got Anne Hillerman copies with these markers, I want to hear from you: 702-496-4214.
Cave of Bones (2018), The Tale Teller (2019), Stargazer (2021)
Mid-series titles. All HarperCollins hardcovers following the same first-edition identification protocol. These three occupy the mid-tier of the continuation series — desirable for set completion but individually less sought than the first two titles. Stargazer (2021) is notable because it appeared during the early buzz around the AMC Dark Winds television adaptation, which rekindled interest in the entire Hillerman franchise. Collectors who discovered the series through Dark Winds often backfill from Stargazer forward and backward simultaneously.
The Sacred Bridge (2022) and The Way of the Bear (2023)
Late-series titles. Same HarperCollins identification protocol. These are still in active first-printing circulation and are the easiest titles to find as true firsts. They complete the set for collectors who started early. The Sacred Bridge is set partly in Utah’s canyon country; The Way of the Bear involves bears in the Navajo Nation landscape.
Lost Birds (2024)
The most recent novel. HarperCollins hardcover first, same number-line identification. Because this title is current, true first printings are widely available. The collector opportunity here is to acquire a sharp, signed first while Anne Hillerman is still actively touring and signing — the signed books authentication guide covers what to verify.
Tony Hillerman estate connections and the family literary legacy
Anne Hillerman’s corpus cannot be understood apart from Tony Hillerman’s eighteen original Leaphorn and Chee novels. Tony Hillerman (1925–2008) created the Navajo Tribal Police procedural genre, won the Edgar Award for Dance Hall of the Dead in 1974, and built a readership that spanned forty years. When he died in October 2008, the series was unfinished — he had been developing the Bernadette Manuelito character as a full protagonist but never completed that arc.
Anne Hillerman, a veteran journalist and nonfiction author, picked up the series with HarperCollins’s support in 2013. The estate dynamics are significant for collectors: households that accumulated Tony Hillerman firsts over thirty years — especially signed copies from his frequent Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Farmington readings — almost always continued buying Anne Hillerman’s novels. This means the two corpora travel together on estate shelves. When I pick up an estate with Tony Hillerman hardcover firsts, I expect to find Anne Hillerman firsts alongside them, usually in better condition because the Anne Hillerman titles were acquired later in the collector’s life and handled less.
The nonfiction bridge between the two is Tony Hillerman’s Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn (2009, HarperCollins), Anne Hillerman’s co-authored photography/text volume with Don Strel. This tribute book documents the real Four Corners landscapes that Tony Hillerman fictionalized, and it is the single best provenance marker for a household that valued both the father’s and the daughter’s work. If the estate has the Landscape volume, the rest of the Anne Hillerman shelf is almost certainly present.
For collectors interested in the broader mystery-fiction estate shelf around the Hillerman family, Michael McGarrity’s Kevin Kerney series is the adjacent pillar — many Hillerman households also collect McGarrity because his Santa Fe-set procedurals occupy the same NM mystery niche.
What Anne Hillerman collections are worth
I don't buy books — but I won't let you give away something genuinely valuable without knowing what it is. Here's where the value sits across Anne Hillerman titles. If you want to sell the high-value pieces yourself, a specialist dealer, an auction house, or the right online marketplace is the place to do it. If you'd rather just have the whole collection gone, contact me at 702-496-4214 or use the free pickup form and I'll take it as a free donation pickup.
| Title | Edition / Format | Condition | Approx. Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spider Woman’s Daughter | 2013 Harper 1st/1st, jacket | Fine / Near Fine | Mid $$ unsigned; low $$$ signed |
| Rock with Wings | 2015 Harper 1st/1st, jacket | Fine / Near Fine | Mid $$ unsigned; low $$$ signed |
| Song of the Lion through Lost Birds | Harper 1st/1st, jacket | Fine / Near Fine | Mid $$ unsigned; low $$$ signed |
| Complete 9-volume set | All 1st/1st, matched jackets | Fine / Near Fine across set | Set premium applies — above per-volume total |
| Tony Hillerman’s Landscape | 2009 Harper 1st, jacket | Fine / Near Fine | Mid $$ unsigned; higher signed |
| Any Anne Hillerman, any condition | Reading copies, book-club, later printings | Any | Accepted as part of full-library pickups |
Note: I accept complete library donations including reading copies and later printings as part of free Albuquerque pickups. You do not need to sort or grade your collection before contacting me — I handle the entire process. For information on how the broader donation and resale process works, see where donated books go.
Frequently asked questions
What's the most collectible Anne Hillerman book?
How do I tell a true first edition from a later printing?
Is Anne Hillerman's signature collectible?
Who owns the Anne Hillerman shelf in Albuquerque?
How do I sell my Anne Hillerman collection?
Does the Dark Winds TV series affect Anne Hillerman book values?
What is the difference between an Anne Hillerman first edition and a book club edition?
Are Anne Hillerman paperbacks worth anything?
Should I sell my Anne Hillerman books with or without my Tony Hillerman collection?
Have a Anne Hillerman collection to sell?
Free pickup in Albuquerque and the Rio Grande corridor. I come to the house, I sort and grade the collection, I handle every title — the common reading copies, the mid-tier firsts, and the pillar-tier signature pieces. No stress, no donation-center triage, no trip to Goodwill.