Dance Hall of the Dead, Tony Hillerman (Harper & Row, 1973) ***

Tony Hillerman's novels are set in the Southwest, primarily New Mexico and Arizona. The protagonists are one or two Navajo tribal policemen, Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, who lead the reader down dusty roads past primitive hogans, remote trading posts, across mesas and down canyons and into the mountains, while solving a crime mystery that involves their jurisdiction, the vast Navajo reservation. His readers include "desert rats" who love the settings, mystery fans who appreciate his well-crafted plots, people who are fascinated by Native American culture, and those who read for that pure enjoyment to be found in tales well told by a skilled writer. In this novel, Leaphorn in assigned to track down a missing Navajo youth whose Zuni friend was found brutally murdered.