Dance Hall of the Dead
First edition
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| Author | Tony Hillerman |
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| Cover artist | Gail Burwen |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn Navajo Tribal Police Series |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Set in | Zuni, New Mexico, Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation |
| Publisher | Harper and Row |
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Publication date
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1973 |
| Media type | Print and audio |
| Pages | 166 |
| Awards | 1973 Edgar Award for Best Novel |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 650569 |
| Preceded by | The Blessing Way, 1970 |
| Followed by | Listening Woman, 1978 |
Dance Hall Of The Dead is the second crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by Tony Hillerman, first published in 1973. It features police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. It is set primarily in Ramah Reservation (part of the Navajo Reservation) and the Zuni village in New Mexico, both in the American Southwest.
Two boys are missing from the Zuni school. One boy is a Navajo, so Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is called in to find him while the Zuni police seek the other boy. The Zuni boy's body is found, brutally murdered. Tracks of the other boy are found at the scene. This Navajo boy is a well-trained hunter who has to skip school some days to hunt to feed himself, his father and his brother. He seeks spiritual guidance, as well, being the only Navajo boy in his class at school. He is a challenge for Leaphorn, the most skilled tracker, to find, especially once he realizes who the killer is, and the search moves to a major Zuni ceremony.
The story contrasts Zuni and Navajo beliefs through the two boys and the two policemen. The Zuni believe in something like heaven after death, where the Navajo encourage the people to do their best on earth, as their chindi, the worst of a person, will be a ghost left behind after death. The two tribes reside in the same area for hundreds of years, yet use the land differently, Zunis preferring a town while Navajos spread out over the land, and have sharply contrasted beliefs as to the after life. This is played out in the bellagana culture, with ambitious anthropologists, the drug trade, the FBI, and narcotics officers.
Ernesto Cata is in training to play his role as Shulawitsi the Fire God in an upcoming Zuni religious ceremony. He sees a kachina that can be seen by the initiated, which he is not, or by those about to die. The next day, his friend George Bowlegs leaves school early, after learning Ernesto is not there. Lt. Joe Leaphorn works with the Zuni police chief Pasquaanti, who seeks Ernesto, while Leaphorn will seek George, a Navajo boy. A patch of blood-soaked soil is found at the meeting place where George was returning Ernesto’s bicycle. That is the starting point in the search for the two boys.
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