The daughter of novelist Tony Hillerman, she has continued her father's series of Joe Leaphorn-Jim Chee novels following his death, adding officer Bernadette Manuelito as a full partner in solving the crimes.

Leaphorn is the victim of an assassination attempt, spends half of the book in a coma, and later was severely limited in his ability to communicate.

Chee and Bernadette Manuelito are the crime solvers from that book forward in the series, with Leaphorn mentioned sporadically in the background but never fully active in the investigations.

Spider Woman's Daughter garnered the 2014 Spur Award for Best First Novel from the Western Writers of America, and landed on the New York Times Best Seller list.

[5][6][7] She followed that with a change in the series, Rock With Wings,[8] Song of the Lion[9][10] and Cave of Bones, released April 2018, all of which have also been on the New York Times Best Seller list.