This novel, by the prolific Donald E. Westlake (prolific, as in putting out four books a year during his career, and resorting to pen names to mask his prodigious output) won't, alas, be on anyone's top ten lists of novels. But it's funny and well-written and has an ease about its characters that I love. New York is described by a writer who loves and appreciates it in all its quirks... or at least in all the quirks of 1976.

I've read a number of his other novels, but this one remains in my mind the most. Anytime I remember many of the situations in it (like the South American guy trying to track down an original, priceless Dancing Aztec statue, and accidentally finding himself naked in the house of one of the people who has a copy of it, a woman way past due in losing her virginity) I can't help but laugh, to this day. ( )

For nearly 40 years I have believed "Dancing Aztecs" to be one of Donald E. Westlake's funniest novels. Returning to it for the first time since its publication in 1976 has confirmed my belief. The novel, at 374 pages also one of Westlake's longest, really is a joy to read.

The plot is both simple and complex at the same time. A number of imitation gold statues of a dancing Aztec priest have been sent from South America to New York City and distributed as thank-you gifts to members of a civic-minded sports committee, but thanks to a mix-up, the original gold statue worth a million dollars becomes hidden among them.

That's the simple part. It gets complicated because so many different characters have statues and a gradually increasing number of people, both mobsters and ordinary joes, are trying to find the valuable one. If you have seen "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," you will have an idea of what this story is like, except that Westlake's version is a lot more fun. Somehow he manages to make each of these many greedy characters unique, each one with his or her own story and personality. There's the idiotic college professor. There's the swimming pool salesman who sleeps with other men's wives but loves his mom best. And so on. Following the action, and there is plenty of action, is not nearly as difficult for the reader as it might seem.

The novel seems a bit dated now, not so much because of technological change as social change. No reputable publisher would be likely to accept some of the slurs directed at blacks and homosexuals, not all of which are character-driven. If one can forgive that as a product of the times, "Dancing Aztecs" stands as one of the funniest novels you are likely to read. ( )

Underbar! ( )

Everybody's looking for something.

This book (aka A New York Dance) is one of Westlake's finest comic crime capers, quite worthy of comparison with the Dortmunder canon. Jerry Manelli has a little moving business out at JFK airport, moving things from here to there without necessarily getting the owners' consent first. One day he is asked to move a small crate ... but due to some confusion over the Spanish alphabet he moves the wrong crate. One thing leading to another he finds out what was in the right crate, and then he (and a whole bunch of other people) start a frantic chase across New York (and even some way into America) for the genuine Dancing Aztec. It's funny; it has great characters; it has a marvellous plot; it has many of those Westlake trademark asides; and the UK edition omits the Descalzo subplot that is to my mind one subplot too many. I say you buy it, and would I lie to you?

Everybody's looking for a good book, and once in a while, somebody finds one. ( )

Hilarious! ( )