Author Hillerman Passes

Celebrated New Mexico-based author Tony Hillerman passed away on Sunday afternoon:

Tony Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels and creator of two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes -- Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee -- died Sunday of pulmonary failure. He was 83.

Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman, said her father's health had been declining in the last couple years and that he was at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque when he died at about 3 p.m.

AP offers up details here, as well as a glimpse into Hillerman’s life.

The writer’s death comes less than two weeks before The Hillerman Conference, sheduleded this year to take place at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 5-9.