Dance Hall of the Dead

Another good plot I didn't catch on to, and thanks for the timeline at the end to answer all questions. Interesting that the series is called Leaphorn & Chee but Chee has yet to make an appearance. I'll continue the series.

When two high school boys disappear, Navajo tribal police officer Joe Leaphorn is faced with a difficult sleuthing job. As he starts his investigation, it soon becomes apparent that things are getting deadly. And he also finds that nothing is straight forward -- there seem to be multiple mysteries. Why are the FBI and DEA on the scene? Are the disappearances related to upcoming native religious ceremonies? And, what is going on at a nearby archeological dig and in an odd-ball hippy commune?

Pretty good neo-western crime fiction from back in the 1970's. I'll check out more Joe Leaphorn stories.

This is the second book in Hillerman's wonderful Navajo mystery series. What I find to be generally true about this series is that the mysteries are fairly average, many times the outcome is guessable, but I just love the setting, the history, and the culture that is contained in each book.