# Jim Chee
**Jim Chee** is a fictional Navajo Tribal Police officer and one of the two protagonists of [Tony Hillerman](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-hillerman)'s series of Navajo Country mystery novels, first appearing in *People of Darkness* (1980).[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) He is the younger counterpart of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, the "Legendary Lieutenant," and the two share the series from *Skinwalkers* (1986) onward.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) After Tony Hillerman's death, his daughter Anne Hillerman continued the series with Chee as a sergeant married to fellow officer Bernadette Manuelito.[2](https://staging.nnels.ca/subject/chee-jim-fictitious-character) The Library of Congress maintains an authorized subject heading for the character, "Chee, Jim (Fictitious character)," with the variants "Jim Chee (Fictitious character)" and "Officer Chee (Fictitious character)."[3](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh91005847.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Debut | *People of Darkness* (1980), the fourth novel in the series[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) • [4](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/1722) |
| Occupation | Navajo Tribal Police officer; sergeant in Anne Hillerman's continuation novels[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) • [2](https://staging.nnels.ca/subject/chee-jim-fictitious-character) |
| Defining trait | Studies to become a hataalii, a traditional Navajo healer, while working as a policeman[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) |
| Clan | Slow Talking clan, the same as Leaphorn[5](https://crimereads.com/tony-hillerman-and-the-invention-of-jim-chee/) |
| Marriage | Marries Bernadette Manuelito at the conclusion of *Skeleton Man*[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) |
| Early Chee novels | *People of Darkness* (1980), *The Dark Wind* (1982), *The Ghostway* (1984), collected in *The Jim Chee Mysteries* (1990)[6](https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/jim_chee_mysteries/) |
| Series scale | Eighteen Tony Hillerman books through *The Shape Shifter* (2006)[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/) |
## Creation and conception
Tony Hillerman invented Chee for *People of Darkness* because [Joe Leaphorn](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-leaphorn) no longer fit the book he wanted to write. In his autobiography *Seldom Disappointed* (2001), Hillerman explained that the novel is set on the Checkerboard Reservation, and that Leaphorn was too hardened a character for that plot.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) In an interview he put it more bluntly: "I had been troubled by the fact that I had made Joe Leaphorn too old and too sophisticated and too wise in the white man's ways to do what I wanted to do." He needed a younger, more traditional character.[5](https://crimereads.com/tony-hillerman-and-the-invention-of-jim-chee/)
The setting was a deliberate choice. Hillerman set the novel on the Checkerboard Reservation to create a book his older, more assimilated detective could not carry.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee)
**Naming and background.** Hillerman took care with the name, regularly consulting the Navajo Communications Company telephone book before adopting the very common Navajo surname Chee, which comes from the Navajo "Chii," meaning "red."[5](https://crimereads.com/tony-hillerman-and-the-invention-of-jim-chee/) • [4](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/1722) He gave Chee the Slow Talking clan, the same as Leaphorn, and made him a student of the hatáli, the traditional medicine-man path.[5](https://crimereads.com/tony-hillerman-and-the-invention-of-jim-chee/) For Chee's personality he drew on idealistic readers, saying, "These people were actually reading Hermann Hesse with pleasure. That is Jim Chee."[5](https://crimereads.com/tony-hillerman-and-the-invention-of-jim-chee/)
## Character biography
Chee is a firm believer in Native American tradition.[4](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/1722) While working as a police officer he studies to become a traditional Navajo healer, a hataalii.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) His uncle Frank Sam Nakai tells him that to be a good shaman he must "believe and not believe"; Chee interprets this to mean he cannot be a good shaman, and is devastated.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee)
His central personal conflict is reconciling police work with becoming a singer (in Navajo, a "yataali"), and he struggles between reservation life and assimilated life.[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/) His romances across the series run through Mary Landon and Janet Pete to Bernadette Manuelito, a full-blooded Navajo and member of the Tribal Police, whom he marries at the conclusion of *Skeleton Man*.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee)
## Appearances in the novels
Chee's first three novels are *People of Darkness* (1980), *The Dark Wind* (1982), and *The Ghostway* (1984); Hillerman's second anthology, *The Jim Chee Mysteries* (1990), collects them.[6](https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/jim_chee_mysteries/) *Skinwalkers* (1986), the seventh novel, is primarily about Chee, with Leaphorn as his superior officer, and it links the two characters for the rest of the series.[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/) The 1992 anthology *Leaphorn & Chee: Three Classic Mysteries* gathers *Skinwalkers*, *A Thief of Time* (1988), and *Talking God* (1989), the period when the two sleuths join forces; it was followed by the 2005 collection *Leaphorn, Chee and More*.[8](https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/leaphorn_and_chee/) In all, Hillerman wrote eighteen books in the series through *The Shape Shifter* (2006).[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/)
## Chee and Leaphorn
The two detectives differ in method and worldview. Leaphorn views Chee, as the Hillerman Portal puts it, justifiably as too hot-headed and impatient, while Chee respects Leaphorn but sees him as too stodgy.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) Chee wants to be a staunch believer in traditional Navajo culture, whereas Leaphorn is the older, more worldly officer Hillerman had made "too wise in the white man's ways."[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) • [5](https://crimereads.com/tony-hillerman-and-the-invention-of-jim-chee/) From *Skinwalkers* onward the friction gives way to partnership, with Leaphorn as Chee's superior and the two linked throughout the remaining books.[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/)
## Themes and cultural portrayal
Chee carries much of Hillerman's treatment of Diné culture and policing. His dual vocation, policeman and singer-in-training, dramatizes the tension between two systems of order, and his "believe and not believe" problem makes that tension internal rather than decorative.[1](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee) • [7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/) Ceremonial belief also drives plot: in *The Ghostway*, Chee must enter a death hogan despite the belief that the chindi, the bad that was in the deceased, remains trapped there.[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/)
## Adaptations
*The Dark Wind* was adapted as a film executive produced by [Robert Redford](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-redford) and starring [Lou Diamond Phillips](https://www.edgepedia.org/lou-diamond-phillips). The movie was shown in France and England but went straight to video in America.[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/)
## Reception and legacy
*A Thief of Time* (1988) was the first book in the series to make *The New York Times* best-seller list, and Hillerman called it his breakout book.[7](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/) After Tony Hillerman's death, Anne Hillerman continued the series.[2](https://staging.nnels.ca/subject/chee-jim-fictitious-character) In the continuation novels Chee holds the rank of sergeant, a change from his standing as "Officer Chee" in his husband-and-wife pairing with [Manuelito](https://www.edgepedia.org/manuelito) in the original run; after Manuelito witnesses a shooting, Sergeant Chee is put in charge of finding the gunman.[2](https://staging.nnels.ca/subject/chee-jim-fictitious-character) • [3](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh91005847.html)
## References
1. [Jim Chee, The Tony Hillerman Portal, University of New Mexico](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/jimchee)
2. [Chee, Jim (Fictitious character), NNELS](https://staging.nnels.ca/subject/chee-jim-fictitious-character)
3. [Chee, Jim (Fictitious character), Library of Congress Authorities](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh91005847.html)
4. [Jim Chee (character entry), The Tony Hillerman Portal, University of New Mexico](https://ehillerman.unm.edu/1722)
5. [Tony Hillerman and the Invention of Jim Chee, CrimeReads](https://crimereads.com/tony-hillerman-and-the-invention-of-jim-chee/)
6. [The Jim Chee Mysteries (1990), UNM Digital Repository](https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/jim_chee_mysteries/)
7. [The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Enter Jim Chee, Black Gate](https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/02/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-enter-jim-chee/)
8. [Leaphorn & Chee: Three Classic Mysteries (1992), UNM Digital Repository](https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/leaphorn_and_chee/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Genre fiction categories › Crime, mystery, and thriller › Detective and mystery fiction*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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