Book Review: Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman

Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman

Joe Leaphorn is a detective with the Navajo Tribal Police. His latest case involves two missing Native American boys. Ernesto Cata was preparing for a Zuni tribal ceremony, the other boy was his good friend George Bowlegs, a Navajo. A large pool of blood leaves little to the imagination of Leaphorn, whose investigation takes him through a lot of the local culture, both Zuni and Navajo. He also deals with an archeologist on the verge of discovering amazing things about the people who lived on the reservation thousands of years ago. His investigation takes him to an oddball hippie commune too. Trying to discover what happened and if there is a culprit involved is a twisty road for Leaphorn.

The book provides an interesting enough mystery but really shines in its depiction of Native American culture, with the sort of detail rarely found in fiction books (or maybe I just read the wrong books). Hillerman weaves it deftly into the plot. With the Navajo boy wanting to be part of the Zuni tribe, the religious ceremonies and beliefs for both are described and are part of the crime. I was almost more interested in that than the mystery. Leaphorn is an interesting if typical investigator--a bit world-weary and jaded, but with enough honesty and integrity to see that justice is done.

Mildly recommended.

This is discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find episode #380. Check it out!