Editors’ note: We are pleased to present the winning entry in the first annual Tony Hillerman Mystery Contest, sponsored by Cowboys & Indians and Wordharvest. “Hunting Season” solved the mystery of who would take first place from among the hundreds of great submissions we received. Congratulations to Dennis F. Herrick, and thanks to everyone who participated. We’ll run stories by some of the other finalists in future issues of Cowboys & Indians.

Metro editor John-somebody snapped his fingers and motioned me over to his desk. “Sheriff’s deputies found a man’s body out on the high plateau just west of the National Guard Armory,” he said.

Having just arrived in town, I had not known there was an armory. I didn’t even know where the newspaper’s candy machine was yet. I had been on the job for, what, fifteen minutes?

Only an hour earlier I had told the young woman at the reception desk that I wanted to apply for a reporter’s job. As a single guy, I was so busy appreciating how attractive she was that I almost didn’t see the tall woman in her 40s walking toward me. The woman reached out for my hand and shook it firmly.

“ I’m Mary Dolan,” she said. “I’m the managing editor. So, you want a reporting job?”
I nodded, temporarily off balance at the suddenness of the job interview. Things usually didn’t go this easily for me.

“ What’s your experience?” she asked. She was still hanging on to my hand, which felt like it was caught in a warm vise. I tugged ever so slightly, and she released me.
“ I worked ten years as a reporter for The Tucson Sun. Covered the police beat, was city hall reporter, and did a lot of feature writing.”

We were still in the lobby. The receptionist seemed amused.
“ So what are you doing in New Mexico?” she asked.

“ I want to work for a daily and still stay in the Southwest,” I replied. That seemed simple enough to me. I could tell I was at a bigger paper. Mary Dolan wore a stylish blouse and creased slacks. My last editor smelled vaguely of horse sweat.
Apparently the reasoning was simple enough for her, too.

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