Dance Hall of the Dead is the second book in Tony Hillerman's best-selling mystery series featuring Navajo policeman Joe Leaphorn. It was first published in 1973, so this year marks the book's fiftieth anniversary. It won the Edgar Award, the most prestigious award for mystery novels. Although it is the second book in the series, it can easily be read on its own. In fact, I read somewhere that Leaphorn is really a secondary character in the first book, The Blessing Way, and that Dance Hall of the Dead is actually the first one with Leaphorn as the main character. The first three books in the series do not include Hillerman's other protagonist, Jim Chee. Then Hillerman wrote three books with Chee alone, without Leaphorn. Only in the seventh book, Skinwalkers, did Leaphorn and Chee come together, and the subsequent books have featured both characters. Hillerman died in 2008, but his daughter, Anne Hillerman, has continued the series.
In this book, Leaphorn investigates the disappearance of two boys, the Zuñi Ernesto Cata and the Navajo George Bowlegs. In spite of long-time tensions between the Zuñi and the Navajo, the two boys are best friends. George is the only Navajo student at a Zuñi school. He is very mystical and spiritual, and an expert hunter who has to provide for his alcoholic father and his younger brother Cecil. George is considered "crazy" because he wants to become a Zuñi, which is unheard-of for a Navajo. Ernesto is to personify the fire god in an upcoming Zuñi ceremony, and disappears while undergoing the physical training for the ceremony. A large pool of blood is found in the place where Ernesto disappeared, but, at first, no body. When George hears of Ernesto's disappearance, he runs away from school and vanishes without a trace.
Leaphorn is called in to find George, while the Zuñi police chief, Pasquaanti, searches for Ernesto. The case involves several jurisdictions, because, in addition to the Navajo and Zuñi police, the sheriff's department and two federal agents, one from the FBI and one from narcotics, are involved. This complicates things for Leaphorn, because he is supposed to focus only on his part of the case, finding George Bowlegs, and he is frustrated because important clues are kept from him.
Soon Ernesto's body is found, but no trace of George. Leaphorn goes to George's family's hogan to talk to George's alcoholic father. He sees a mysterious figure outside the hogan, but when he goes inside to look, he finds the father's body, murdered in the same way as Ernesto. An important clue, a letter from George to his younger brother, is missing. The younger brother, Cecil, tells Leaphorn that George is afraid of the kachina, a Zuñi spirit that appears only to the initiated and to those about to die. He also says that Ernesto stole some artifacts from a nearby archaeological dig.
But when Leaphorn speaks to the two archaeologists on the dig, they tell him that no artifacts are missing. They are trying to prove that Folsom Man, one of the earliest cultures in the Americas, did not die out, but assimilated into other cultures. The story of these early humans in the Americas is fascinating, and made me want to learn more. Leaphorn then goes to a hippie commune living in an abandoned hogan to talk to Susanne, the girlfriend of the younger archaeologist, and who had also befriended George, but she doesn't know where George went. She does provide Leaphorn with an important clue when she says George mentioned the Dance Hall of the Dead. According to the Zuñi religion, that is where the spirits of the dead go, starting on the fifth day after they die. Outside the commune, Leaphorn sees a frightening figure resembling a kachina. Is this what George was running away from? And is the commune really a front for drug smuggling? That is what the federal agents believe, which explains their involvement.
Leaphorn's search takes him to a sacred lake in Arizona, which is said to be the place where spirits enter the Dance Hall of the Dead. He figures that George plans to be there on the fifth day after Ernesto's death, when his spirit will arrive at the Dance Hall. Susanne decides to join Leaphorn in his search, because George won't be afraid of her, while he might run away from a stranger. The scenes where Leaphorn and Susanne explore the area surrounding the lake are beautifully written, with exquisite descriptions of the land. I will not say whether or not they succeed in finding George, because that would be a spoiler, but I will say that there are several surprises in store.
Dance Hall of the Dead is a wonderful book, deserving of the Edgar Award. Some of today's readers might think it moves slowly because it doesn't include nonstop action, but it is not that kind of book. The strength of Hillerman's writing is in his descriptions of the locations in New Mexico and Arizona, and of the religion, mythology, and ceremonies of the Navajo and Zuñi. Some people today might object to a white man writing about Navajo and Zuñi characters, but Hillerman writes respectfully of the cultures, without caricatures or stereotyping. In fact, he was adopted into the Navajo Nation. Leaphorn is a wonderful character, logical and somewhat cynical, but compassionate. He is not spiritual himself, but he has an interest in learning more about the Navajo and Zuñi religious beliefs and ceremonies. Later books contrast him with Jim Chee, who is younger and more spiritual than Leaphorn. Although Dance Hall of the Dead was published in 1973, it does not really seem dated, except for the parts about the hippie commune and the fact that there are no cell phones and no internet, which might have made it easier for Leaphorn to find George. It's a beautifully-written book, and an absorbing mystery, and I highly recommend it.
Dance Hall of the Dead is available from the Hatcher Graduate Library and the Children's Collection in the Hatcher Graduate Library, even though it is not a children's book. Two important characters are children, but one of them gets killed and the other is missing through most of the book, and it's definitely written for adults. It is also available in a collection called The Blessing Way; Dance Hall of the Dead; Listening Woman: Three Mysteries, at the Hatcher Graduate Library.