I read this after reading a couple of Mr Hutson's more recentworks which I had been a little disappointed in, but this bookreminded as to why I started reading his stuff in the first place. This book is well written and the characters are realistic and the horror in this book is of a more physcological then some of his earlier stuff and gets your imagination going, this is not the kind of book you want to be reading alone in the dark. END

The collection of pieces and images in this book are truly breathtaking. The ability to link the art forms of music, dance, and art are essential to the understanding of Indian treasures. A wonderful book to own as a reference.

I had bought this volume at the time of exhibition in Sydney. Since then it has been a pleasure to visit it off and on. It is one of the good collections, and provides an excellent overview to the Indian arts. It is strongly recommended as the first volume, or as an addition to the existing treasures. Good value for money.

If you're interested in the history of Indian dance and music as well as historic Indian art and ancient religions - this book is a must have! It is chock full of pictures and descriptions of dancers, musicians and relevant dieties in Indian art. Most of the pictures are quite old, with the bulk being pre-1600. If you are a medieval history junkie, this is a real find. The photography and publication quality are excellent.

The authors also do a great job with their descriptions. To the best of my knowledge there were no inaccuracies in their descriptions of dance movements. In fact there was a better than normal set of definitions and terminology in this book than I've seen elsewhere.

This one is a great mystery. However, there were parts, in my opinion, that were not detailed enough.

It will grab the reader's attention quickly and hold onto it through out the book and is well written.

Yes, this one is worth you money!

Prom night is a special night in every teenager's life; it is a night that should be remembered for the rest of your life. In a way it signifies you are on the way to becoming an adult and growing up. But unfortunately, tragedies occasionally are drawn to nights like these and when that happens it changes everyone's life and not always for the better. Sharyn Howard is following the family tradition, Law Enforcement. Her grandfather was the Sheriff of Diamond Springs, North Carolina and her father had replaced him. Now she has replaced her father becoming the first woman ever elected here for sheriff, unfortunately she had replaced her father because he was shot and killed. Now this small town has once again been shaken to the very foundations. Another young girl has been killed on prom night. The last time was exactly ten years ago at Sharyn's own prom, Leila Bentley was killed in almost the exact same manner. Sharyn isn't sure what is going on, but she has a gut feeling that this was the work of the same person. But to act on that would mean that her father somehow arrested and the town convicted the wrong man and the killer had been here all this time. Now Sharyn must decide if she is going to go against not just her mother and closest friends, but the entire town and reopen the old case to try and solve this one. Authors Joyce and Jim Lavene have created a book that is well worth the money to get it. Last Dance flows smoothly, fast paced with just the right touch. Although there is one section that could have been spread out more, with a smaller leap to the conclusion, it is still a book that is hard to put down and you won't want to put down until the last page is turned.

Tracy Eastgate Reviewer

The plot is pretty good and I like the quick pace. BUT... the typographical errors and confusing dialogue are enough to drive a person insane! Lines are occasionally ended in mid-sentence only to begin again in a new paragraph. Several times, the wrong term is used (example: "poll" instead of "pole"). Quotations marks are often in the wrong place or missing all together. And speaking of the dialogue, it's very hard to figure out who is saying what half the time because the conversation is lumped into a paragraph instead of being seperated by who is speaking. What this book needs is a good proofreader!...

The story itself isn't that bad-I read the whole book start to finish in one night. It's all the typos, gramatical errors, spelling errors that drove me bonkers trying to read it. The author himself should be ashamed for writing such a poorly done book, but hasn't the publisher ever heard of "proofreading"?? I have never read such a messed up book in my life-and I've read hundreds of them. If this new author decides to write another novel, I hope he gets some help with his English!!

Murder Before The Checkers, Great for all readers!
I must say, leary was my first reaction because it was the author's first book -- I don't regret buying it -- not one bit! Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. Four cups of coffee and calling off all appointments later I was done. It left me highly impressed with Jim Worsley work and more interested in stock car racing as I wasn't before reading his first book. Great for all readers, it's a must for everyone's book shelf.

I read the nasty comments of the last "anonymous" reviewer from California (isn't it funny how the nasty comments always come from people who don't give their names?) and I wondered if that person had read the same book I did. I found "Angels Dance and Angels Die" to be far, far from a "Harlequin Romance". The prose is straightforward, clearn, and logical, with a minimum of fuss and frills, which makes it a fast read, impossible to put down. Beyond that, I learned things about Jim Morrison I'd never read anywhere else. This is the first time I've seen his humorous, kind, thoughtful side given equal emphasis as his alcoholism and other problems. It's also the first time that those problems were put into perspective by filling in the years before he became famous, providing context and making his later actions easier to understand.

As well, this is the first book that's ever given Pamela her due -- as an equal and often stronger partn! er in a union that may have been shaken by the personal problems of both lovers, but still remained strong against outside forces threatening to pull the two apart. I understand now what Jim and Pam saw in and meant to each other. Their shared history makes all the groupies and other women still, oddly, fighting to claim Jim's affection (he's dead, ladies -- move on) seem incredibly trivial in comparison.

This is a thoughtful, knowledgeable book, and the years of research the writer put into its construction really shows. The book is incredibly well-referenced and believeable, fair, often funny, touching, and ultimately sad. I came away not only with a more detailed picture of a man I'd always admired, but also an appreciation of the woman he loved so much and an understanding of their fast lives in tumultuous times.

Highly recommended.

Most books written about the Doors and Jim Morrison focus meerly and centerally on the Rock 'n Roll aspect of his life. However, in Butler's novel, one gets a true meaning and understanding of Jim through his romance with Pamela. Although a they shared a rocky relationship, the "cosmic mates" demonstrated true love in every aspect of the word. Their tragic tale is wonderfully told by Butler because never before has Pamela truly been recognized as a pivitol role in Jim Morrison's life. She has been meerly written off as a groupie or "Jim's girl". By reading this novel, one learns she was anything but. She was Jim. It was phasinating learning about her for a change and how her background corresponded chronologically with Jim's and then the cosmic moment they met. Pam was more than Jim's "muse", she was an individual whose life was ended tragically, like Jim's. This book is greatly different from others in the best ways possible. The photos let the readers in to perhaps some of the most intimate and REAL aspects of their romance. At the end, one does get the feeling that these two devilish angels are dancing and laughing someplace far far away still.

I loved reading this book! From the first page, the author pulled me in and kept me reading until the very last word -- and even then I hated to put it down! This is the only book I've read that puts Jim Morrison's work in the proper context with his personal life, the biggest part of which was his incredible relationship with Pamela. It's such a shame that there are those who would use this book as an excuse to further promote their own outrageous claims against Morrison. A person only has to look at the choices Morrison made, particularly leaving the country with the woman he loved, to see where his heart lay. What a shame people are still fighting over such things after Jim and Pam have been dead for nearly 30 years. What Jim and Pam shared -- what they still share, in my opinion -- can't be touched by the naysayers or detractors. Theirs was a love that transcended the grave and will certainly transcend anyone or anything here on earth. Jim and Pam's story is certainly beautifully and very fairly and objectively presented in this book. A great read.

Ted Sannella has put together a useful and accessible book. The material is somewhat dated, but it still contains material that should be in every New England Traditional dance caller's collection.

Jim Cohn's fourth collection of poems continues the various strands of his work- including the "world grief" group framing the book, a group of "beat generation/fathers" poems, a group that marks this book as a personal coming to terms with the past and struggling to define the present, the wilderness landscape & "Asian echo" poems, the developing rabbi/Jewish poem series, and finally, the quirky humor poems. The "World Grief" theme is the deepest and consistently most affecting strand throughout all his work, whether in the opening "Wu Xiaonai" or "Viewing Schindler's List," the absolutely stunning "I Give Up My Place in the World To Come" or the clinically understated horror of "It Is Said That Intellectuals From The Universities Wrote Lists Of Those To Be Slaughtered" and "Witness No. 87," or in the more personal explorations of "Naked Guru Kiva Mosh Pit," "To One I Saw Despondent At A Rave," or the stripped-down questioning "Domestic Terror Couplets." Jim's series playing on the Beat generation fathers includes poems that are often playful and yet which intimate a deeper sense of lineage and purpose: these include "Notes From A Tribute to Allen Ginsberg by Sharon Olds," "On Rooftop, Denver Press Club,"and "Peter Orlovsky's Jack Kerouac Lecture & Revelation." These poems present some homage, some wonder, some sense of all our poetic fathers as Charlie Chaplinmen shuffling like sacred clowns in visionary ecstacy, unseen & yet strangely wise to the foolishness of those seriously ambitious peddlers of dreams and those bent on remaking the world in their own images. The book's also coming to terms with the past and struggling to define a present-it's the dream of one's father in uniform with its opportunity, the farewell prayer to one's former spouse on her wedding day, the transfigured vision of lost love & shared spirit despite that loss in "The Hummingbirds," but also the day his "Basic Skills English Class Finished Reading To Kill A Mockingbird." Wilderness landscapes punctuate the collection-"Jemez Mountains Meditation," "Interpreting The Petroglyphs At Deluge Shelter," and "Oh Be Joyful." Diverse in mood, the series of "Asian echo" poems features the melancholy "Like Wang Wei," the wisdom of "Su Tung P'o: The Hits," and the prayerful "Excarnate," inscribed after Basho. Of all the poems in this group, however, the rabbi series is this reader's personal favorite: "New Years Sermon," its rabbi both pathetic in the final loss of his faculties and wonderful in the length of his committed service through the century's hells & ecstacies; "Ten Menorahs'" Hanukkah hopefulness despite the despair that marks so many lives; and "Shouldn't Have To Do This," the old rabbi's struggle to fathom his own pain at the loss of his oldest friend. Finally there are the quirky humor poems, such as "When Robots Cry," "Meeting The World Wide Web Salesman and "I Took A Dump In The Bathroom of Pain," a fit piece to close the book, with its naked wonder of "how simply you return to yourself," its recognition of renewal and its paradoxical resignation: "we love and we lose but only among the living."

This book was really exiting it had me sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time reading it. The Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman is the perfect book for the murder mystery lover. Ernesto Cata and George Bowlegs are best friends they both mysteriously disappear, Cata leaves a pool of blood and is found dead, and George flees the area. Joe Leaphorn a Navajo police officer follows up on the case, but a number of things complicate his journey to find George and solve the Mystery. This book is suspenseful and a real thriller there are just enough characters to make it interesting but not confusing. The book was so great that I could not put it down until I learned what happened next. This was because of the author's style, which always left you hanging at the end of each chapter. Although this book was one of the better books I have read it does not have a very intriguing beginning, but whatever you do don't stop reading. I almost put the book down and stopped reading a few times in the first two or three chapters as I neared the end I was definitely glad that I continued. There's no doubt that you should definitely read this book.

This is the second book in the "Navajo Detective" series by Tony Hillerman and the first in which detective Joe Leaphorn is the principal charactor.

Dance Hall of the Dead is a sad story. It concerns the murder or disppearance of two boys, a Navajo and a Zuni, and Joe Leaphorn's efforts to find the missing boys. The riddle is entwined with Zuni religious ceremonies which Leaphorn, a Navajo, tries to understand.

Hillerman gives a virtual travelogue of the Zuni and Navajo country of New Mexico and Arizona in the early 1970s when the book was written. Leaphorn is a thoroughly likeable hero, rational, even-tempered, and ethical with a compulsion to get to the bottom of things. Hillerman is a master of creating an exotic atmosphere of Zuni and Navajo culture and ceremonies overlaid by the splendor of the natural setting. With such ornament, it hardly matters that the solution to the mystery itself is not very convincing.

What a great title! If you're a wide-open-spaces-kind-of-a-person Hillerman is unbeatable as a mystery writer with a western twist. In Joe Leaphorn he has created a fictional detective who can take his place among the all-time best.

The content of the book the Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman is mystery & thriller. People have labeled him as a best mystery writer. His crime solving Lt. Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Nation Tribal Police has made this book transcend the mystery genre. Its descriptive writing has made it more to the middle-aged and into mystery or puzzle solving crimes.

The content of Dance Hall Of The Dead by Tony Hillerman is between mystery, thriller and horror because how Hillerman concentrates on one place and religion. The Zuni's are very spiritual as well as the Navajo's and when it comes to the reservation, there is a lot of mystery. The way Hillerman describes each event and location is so well put. How he talks about the background of a certain character. Especially about the Zuni mythology gets you thrilled on what's been behind the murders. When you think of horror and an endless desert with tales of witches and skinwalkers you might want to check it out.1

Published in 2000, Videohound's DVD Guide is already outdated. Why? Because so many DVD titles -- both old and new-- are being released on a weekly basis that it is simply impossible to keep current. Anyone using this guide is bound to be disappointed in the large number of currently available DVDs not listed. Until studios complete the transition of all -- or at least most -- titles from VHS to DVD, such guides will continue to be out of date and of little use. As for the actual content of Videohound's Guide; it is adequate. The reviews, which are all subjective, will strike a chord with some readers, while striking a nerve with others. One useful aspect is the rating of extra features (outtakes, documentaries, trailers, etc.) which make DVDs so much fun. Unfortuneately, Videohound is inconsistent with its extras reviews. For example, the entry for the James Bond classic "Goldfinger" fails to mention the two commentaries and two documentaries featured on the "Special Edition" release. However, the entry for another Bond film, "Thunderball", does list all the extras. Overall, this guide is a great idea. However, it needs fine tuning. Videohound's VHS guides are very good and I suspect that in a couple years -- when the transition from VHS to DVD is complete -- that Videohound's DVD Guide will also be up to par. Until then, I'd wait this one out.

Having been an avid and exclusive user of the VideoHound Golden Movie Retriever (GMR) since 1996, I had high expectations of this DVD review guide sporting the VideoHound moniker. Unfortunately, many of the qualities I'd come to appreciate in the venerable Hound are largely lacking in this DVD guide - most notably, a sense of objectivity... First, it should be pointed out that each entry in this guide is comprised of two reviews: a review of the movie and a review of technical qualities of the DVD. As far as the technical DVD reviews are concerned, the editor(s) confesses in the one of the introductory chapters: "It would be wonderful if all of us - reviewers and readers - could have state-of-the-art 'reference' systems... But that's not the case, and so we don't presume to make definitive judgements." The problem is, one *must* have reference quality equipment to properly review DVDs. Otherwise, why bother going to the trouble of "reviewing" the technical aspects of each disc if the unknown quality of the reviewer's equipment is going to cast a questionable shadow on each review? That said, one good thing I can say about the technical aspects of the reviews in this guide is that each review list all of the special features of each disc, as well as the aspect ratio, the packaging format (i.e., snap case, keep case, jewel case etc.), the list price and so on. Most useful were the reviewers' comments on the cast/crew commentary tracks included on many DVDs, which seemed to be less biased than the reviewers' comments on the movies themselves. As for bias, the actual movie reviews presented in this DVD Guide were what was most disappointing to me. One of the advantages of the classic VideoHound GMR is that there are many contributors, a practice which seems to engender balanced, fair reviews. Although this guide also features contributions from several reviewers (the vast majority, however, being handled by editor Mayo and chief contributor Jim Olenski), I noticed a very odd and disconcerting practice that was employed numerous times: that of taking a film review from the classic VideoHound GMR and changing a couple of words here and there to support a newly altered rating (changing the 'spin' if you will); or else, incredibly, changing the rating without changing a word of the review. In a few cases, the movie was completely re-reviewed, and a different "verdict" passed on its merits, which would be fine except that we now have two inconsistent reviews of the same movie, both of which are apparently advocated by The Hound. Also, when an oddball euro-cult flick such as 'Lisa and the Devil' (originally dismissed with a "woof" by the GMR, which was perhaps a bit extreme) is suddenly bestowed a "four-bone" rating (a Masterpiece!) by the reviewer; or conversely, a moderately successful, more well-received movie such as 'Mystery Men' is given a "woof" (the actual VideoHound GMR gives it a more fair rating of 2-1/2 bones) - one tends to become wary of excessive bias in the reviewer. It goes beyond one person's opinion of this or that movie: a reviewer should try to put aside their likes and dislikes and concentrate on the movie's objective merits and demerits. Having used this VideoHound DVD guide now for about eight months, this annoying tendency towards subjective bias is something that is seen to come through in the reviews all too frequently. So my advice is: For good and fair movie reviews, buy the latest VideoHound Golden Movie Retriever instead. For good technical DVD reviews, try the Widescreen Review.

Want to read the reviews for a movie that has not been in the theatre for while then one should buy/use this source/reference tool/book in question,i.e., Videohound's Dvd Guide by Mike Mayo, Jim Olensk. In here one will find titles such as the stigmata and other classics. Recomended.