Dead Kachina Man by Teresa VanEtten

Abstract

238 Western American Literature The Port Townsend locus of the book—it was published there, many of its contributors are associated with that city, and Port Townsend has a sister city in Nicaragua—and the strength of the Sanctuary movement in the North­ west, help to explain the Northwest origins of the book, as does “the humane impulse of passion,” in Daley’s words, which motivates it. Contributors include Central American revolutionary artists and such Northwest notables as Giovanni Costigan, well-known emeritus professor of history at the University of Washington, and Brent Shirley, a Reagan Repub­ lican and mayor of Port Townsend who spent 15 days in Nicaragua. Short of going to see for ourselves, we can grasp something of Central American conditions by reading this book. GLEN A. LOVE University of Oregon Dead Kachina Man. By Teresa VanEtten. (Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 1986. 131 pages, $10.95 paperback.) The central problem of this story is supposed to be who killed a celebrated carver of kachina dolls. Most readers, however, will be praying—vainly—for the killer to eliminate many more of the stereotypical figures confusing what may loosely be called the plot. Locals and strangers, drug dealers and black­ mailers enter and fade away rather arbitrarily, while our hero, Dominique Rios of the Jerez, New Mexico police force, plods gamely through the deep sand of Ms. VanEtten’sprose trying to solve meaningless mysteries. This is not the very best introduction available to life and death in Pueblo cultures, but at least it is difficult for me to imagine a case of insomnia this book couldn’t cure. KARL KROEBER Columbia University The Zarahemla Vision. By Gary Stewart. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986. 280 pages, $15.95.) If you’re looking for stereotypes vividly displayed in the most unselfcon­ scious of ways, this is the book for you. In this, the second in a series of private eye Gabe Utley murder mysteries, not only does the Mormon church fall prey to stereotyping, but Utah Native Americans emerge as either stupid and ...