Shelly's long-time professor friend (Chandler Rowe) vanishes from a bed and breakfast in Oaxaca City, Mexico in 1995-the day before their National Science Foundation-funded project is to begin at the ancient capitol of the Zapotec empire (Monte Alban). Rowe tells Shelly on the phone that he has found a new tomb full of bones and gold but his phone goes dead in mid-sentence. By the time Shelly and her crew reach Oaxaca Rowe is a wanted man with a price on his head-accused of stealing the gold. She learns that the night before Chandler's discovery several government officials were murdered at Monte Alban in an area known as the Danzantes (Dancers) by men dressed as ancient Zapotec warriors. A revolutionary group-the Juarezitas-is blamed for the murders. Shelly arranges with the Regional Museum to recover the bones and remaining artifacts from the tomb but the ancient Zapotec warriors enter the tomb at night with pitchforks and skimming shovels and scramble the bones looking for more gold. In the meantime the spiritual leader of the Juarezitas (a pious champion of virtue named Fray Bartolome) is stirring up congregations in the rural churches intent on taking over the government of Oaxaca. Working with the police Shelly learns that the corrupt Governor is using the Zapotec warriors to frame the Juarezitas and destroy his political enemies. When the police chief sides with the Juarezitas his forensics team is murdered and the evidence they have gathered disappears. In a further effort to implicate the Juarezitas the bodies of the forensic team are tied to steam pipes in the basement of the Governor's Palace to represent Swimmers (sacrificial victims depicted horizontally in stone at Monte Alban along with the Dancers). In desperation Shelly meets the President of Mexico on behalf of the Juarezitas to convince him to help with overthrow of the corrupt Governor, but the President declines. At the most critical time Fray Bartolome dies leaving Shelly to sort out the politics and deal with the impending revolution.
About the Author: Duane Anderson was trained as a southwestern archaeologist at the University of Colorado-Boulder (PhD 1972). He spent 20 years in Iowa, serving as director of the Sanford Museum and Planetarium, and later as State Archaeologist of Iowa at the University of Iowa. He later served as executive director of the Dayton Museum of Natural History before taking the position of vice president at the School of American Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2000 Anderson became the director of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe. Anderson has published over a hundred papers and books in the fields of archaeology, ethnohistory, paleontology, and museum studies, and has received four awards for his non-fiction books. When he retired Anderson started writing fiction based on his travels and personal experiences. Anderson is currently a Fulbright Senior Scholar and a Research Associate at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe.