L. C. Hayden is the creator of the award-winning and bestselling Harry Bronson and Aimee Brent Mystery Series. Learn more about L.C. and her books at her website. 
Pyramid Lake, Nevada
Funny thing. I’ve always felt a bond to Native Americans. Even as a child when I watched cowboy and Indian movies, I rooted for the Indians. I had no idea why, but now I do. My recent DNA test revealed that I’m mostly Native American.
Since November has been designated as National Native American Heritage Month, I wanted to honor all Native Americans. To accomplish this, I set my novel, That Last Ghost Dance, in a reservation.
My series character, Aimee Brent, is a reporter for a Lake Tahoe newspaper. Therefore, I needed a reservation that was within her “jurisdiction.”
Enter the Paiute’s Pyramid Lake Reservation, located 35 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada, in a remote desert area. Upon examining the location of buildings and other structures in the reservation, I realized that the Pyramid Lake Reservation provided me with the ideal setting. The desert’s vast emptiness offered several places where the bad guys could hide and go undetected.
Nixon is the Paiute’s small rural town located within the reservation. Some of their homes are scattered sites, away from neighboring homes, and are generally set up on ranches where people grow alfalfa and tend cattle and horses. I used its remoteness to add suspense to the story.
Pyramid Lake stands as the tribes’ most valuable asset and is entirely enclosed within the boundaries of the reservation. The Pyramid rock formation, a sacred place to the natives, stands five stories high and is older and larger than the Egyptian pyramids.
The lake’s pyramid comes with its own legends. One, which I mentioned in my story, deals with Water Babies. In an effort to weed out the weak, ill-formed or premature babies were thrown into the lake by the early Paiutes.
Over the past centuries, the infants’ souls have gathered, and their angry spirits have taken hold of the lake. As a result, each spring, unlucky fishermen disappear and their bodies are usually not recovered.
I mention the Water Babies in my novel to authenticate the book’s setting. However, I mainly focus on the Ghost Dance, a mystical ceremony designed to re-establish the Native Indian Culture, bring a peaceful end to the westward expansion, and return Native Americans their land.
It all began around 1870 when a Paiute shaman and prophet named Wodziwob Wovoka created the Ghost Dance. Every tribe—even those from warring tribes—sent representatives to learn the dance.
In my novel, the Paiute’s chairman wants the members of his tribe to perform the Ghost Dance in order to bring back the true sense of joy the Paiutes once experienced. Several disputes arise. Some claim that the councilman is moving them backward and in order to succeed as a tribe, they must embrace the modern ways. Other natives want him to revive the dance and bring back the old traditions.
The councilman proceeds with his plans and gets killed while performing the dance. Nevada reporter Aimee Brent is granted an exclusive to report on the murder. Upon arriving at Nixon, Aimee finds that not everyone or everything is as should be. She stumbles upon secrets—secrets that could lead to her death. It's up to Aimee to unravel them before more people fall victim to the grand scheme of That Last Ghost Dance.
An Aimee Brent Mystery, Book 3
Kuyuidokado, Nevada's Paiute's chief councilman, is murdered while performing the Ghost Dance, a dance created by the Native Americans to bring peace and restore their land to the way it used to be.
Nevada reporter Aimee Brent is granted an exclusive to investigate the crime and report to the world what Kuyuidokado was really like. Aimee is eager to travel to Nixon to investigate the murder. She needs to be away from her editor/fiancé with whom she has just broken up with.
Upon arriving at Nixon, Aimee finds that not everyone or everything is as should be. She stumbles upon secrets—secrets that could lead to her death. It's up to Aimee to unravel them before more people fall victim to the grand scheme of That Last Ghost Dance.
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