In the AMC TV series Dark Winds, Tony Hillerman’s tribal-police mysteries have been vividly brought to life on the small screen. Set in the Navajo Nation and filmed on location in New Mexico this mystery series is written, directed and performed largely by Native Americans. Dark Winds features Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee, two tribal policemen and two of Hillerman’s favorite police detectives. We meet these two characters in the early seventies when they first meet. Zahn McClarnon plays Leaphorn and leads this series. He seems to be Hollywood’s go to actor for tribal policemen, having previously played one for Longmire and again in Reservation Dogs. This series opens with a violent armored-car robbery in downtown Gallup, New Mexico, complete with a helicopter as the getaway vehicle. This small sleepy town was a lot quieter when we stopped there for breakfast last Sunday. We are halfway through the first of two seasons on Netflix. A third season is available on AMC, and I already have plans to exercise my free trial offer to watch that season there.

This show is full of mysticism and magic. There is an evil witch that you do not want to mess with. There are also dreams that have real life consequences. Its 1973 setting means Vietnam is a thing, along with the radical Native American movement of that era. The FBI or the Federal Bureau of Incompetence according to Leaphorn is nosing about. Basically, getting in Leaphorn’s face and ruining his day. One of the few white actors in the show, Rainn Wilson, plays the sleeziest of used car salesmen. We are enjoying this show a lot. Watching this Hillerman story, instead of reading or listening to it has added an extra dimension that has made sharing this experience a treasure.