Tony Hillerman's first agent told him that if he ever wanted to get his writing published, he would have to "get rid of that Indian stuff."

Hillerman didn't listen to that agent, and his acclaimed mystery novels mixed exciting plots with observations of life among the Navajo, or Dineh, people.

Hillerman died Sunday at an Albuquerque hospital. He was 83.

Hillerman is best known for two characters - Navajo Tribal Police investigators, the veteran Lt. Joe Leaphorn and the younger Officer Jim Chee - who, in 18 novels including The Blessing Way, The Dark Wind, Skinwalkers and A Thief of Time, solved crimes while trying to bridge the cultural gap between the Dineh and the outside world.

The books didn't translate well to film. "The Dark Wind," which was notable as documentarian Errol Morris' first narrative film and was controversial for casting non-Indians Lou Diamond Phillips and Fred Ward as Chee and Leaphorn, bombed when it was released in 1991. PBS had better success with adaptations of "Coyote Waits" and "A Thief of Time," executive produced by Robert Redford and starring Adam Beach ("Flags of Our Fathers") and Wes Studi ("Geronimo: An American Legend") as Chee and Leaphorn.

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