DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD

Navajo Lt. Joe Leaphorn of The Blessing Way who walks and talks softly is back again trying to find out why a youngster, George Bowlegs, also a Navajo, is missing while his friend from the adjacent Zuni reservation has been killed. George, a strung out, lonely kid with mystical inclinations, has been most recently attracted to the Zuni kachinas and there are more earthly things to consider — an archaeological dig and a commune-narcotics drop. Not too seriously — the story's not the thing — it's Hillerman's anything but wooden Indians and the way in which he informs their way of life with affection and dignity.