The Dead Don't Dance

A haunted island brings American Samoan culture to life—and interlopers to their deaths—in this mystery from the author of Fire Knife Dancing.
 
After the devastating loss of a loved one, Det. Sgt. Apelu Soifua retreats to the island of Ofu. The isolation of his father’s land—and drinking—bring a temporary peace to his shattered soul. His only friends are two national park workers and the local outcast who has lived in the bush for nearly twenty years—and who has to scared some palangi (Caucasian) surveyors away. But not for long . . .
 
Attempting to heal at least part of his family—and himself—Apelu brings his oldest son, Sanele, to live with him. But their reunion is marred by the news that a company intends to build a resort hotel on the pristine To’aga beach. The locals know the island spirits have driven people away before—and they will again. When one of the developers is decapitated and his head goes missing, Apelu has a feeling that something has been awakened. And either human or supernatural, it won’t stop until it gets what it wants . . . 
 
“A skillful, suspenseful novel.” —The Providence Journal
 
“The author’s lyrical and factual evocation of Samoa enriches every part of the book it touches. Story, writing style, character, and culture all combine in John Enright’s Jungle Beat mysteries to form a series that I just can’t recommend highly enough.” —Kittling: Books
 

John Enright was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1945. He earned a bachelor’s degree from City College of New York while working full-time at Fortune, Time, and Newsweek magazines. He later received a master’s degree in folklore at UC Berkeley, before starting a career in publishing. In 1981, Enright left the United States to teach at the American Samoa Community College. He spent the next twenty-six years working for environmental, cultural, and historical resource preservation on the islands in the South Pacific. Over the past five decades, his essays, articles, short stories, and poems have appeared in more than ninety books, anthologies, journals, periodicals, and online magazines. His collection of poems 14 Degrees South won the University of the South Pacific Press’s inaugural International Literature Competition. Enright currently lives in Owensboro, Kentucky, with his wife Connie Payne.