HUNTER'S DANCE

Hunter’s Dance
by Kathleen Hills
326 pages
ISBN: 1-59058-094-X
Poisoned Pen Press
2004
$24.95

Does anyone deserved to be murdered? That was the problem for John McIntire, constable for the community of St. Adele in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, bordering Lake Superior. Bambi Morlen has been murdered and his body was mutilated after the annual Hunters’ Dance, but this death isn’t what it seems to be and somehow many people were involved who don’t intend for things to turn out quite the way they do, but seldom does everything turn out with the best intentions for everyone.

The time is 1950. The Korean War is still very much a part of the discussion across the country, the influences of life during that time and the draft is still in existence. In the area of northern Michigan, the use of an outdoor pump for water is in use and many areas still do not completely have electrical power. The cars are huge, gas-guzzlers with not always the most efficient starters and all of them are stick-shifts. Many people don’t drive since the vehicles are not always reliable and driving is much more complicated in operation without power steering, brakes, and all the luxuries that we are so accustomed to utilizing.

In this small community is an exclusive Shawanok Club where Bambi has been living for the summer with his family. This is a gated-community with its own protection and frequently, its own rules.

Bambi is an 18-year-old male who had a tendency to show-off and bully. He isn’t going to be drafted since he comes from money and he doesn’t want to go to college. He does race around the community in his, really his grandfather’s, sports car. During the annual Hunters’ Dance celebration, Bambi maneuvers himself into a heated argument with a Native American over a girl. So who would be the logical murderer when Bambi is found scalped?

The irony of the title, Hunter’s Dance, as opposed to the event after which the murder occurred, Hunters’ Dance is how closely the reader needs to be watching the clever moves of the author, Kathleen Hills. She masterfully pulls at the predictions of the reader by continually giving insights to the inner characters of each person even remotely involved within this community.

The characterization of John McIntire is perfect as the reluctant constable who only wants to maintain the peacefulness of this community. John tends to care more about the people of the community and what their actions cause to happen, as well as the effect of this death upon the individual people and which piece of this puzzling death each of them held. This is the type of person all of us would want investigating if we were ever involved in any crime.

The word of advice while reading Hunter’s Dance is nothing is as it seems. This makes this novel thoroughly delightful to read, the reader is always surprised at the masterful twists in completing this puzzle.

Even though this is the second book in a continuing series by a fairly new author, Hunter’s Dance stands on its own. The novel at first seems fairly predictable, but with the development of the investigation of each chapter, it is amazing how the tempo increases without the reader even being aware of the changes.

Kathleen Hills lives in both Duluth, Minnesota and Northern Scotland. Hunter’s Dance is the second book with John McIntire, with Past Imperfect, being the first. She is currently working on the third book featuring the constable.