Need a brief escape into a mysterious and far away, little understood world? Carol Beecher’s cleverly intertwined mystery that combines the mysticism of the Malangs with the pluralistic culture of Afghanistan can offer you that. Amongst this forbidding landscape, Dance of the Malang carries you on a trip deep into the nuances of Afghan culture where life is real (sometimes dangerous), warm, and very human—even amid constant strife and an uncertain future at every turn.

Meet Afghan Pashtun dealer in gems, Abdul Hazrat and his erstwhile fortune seeking partner, Chang Lee, a Chinese Nationalist. They are about to embark on a search for a long-lost Lapis mine in the remote Wakhan Corridor. Haunting them along the way is the plight of the Nomads and the danger of their southern neighbor. Their search soon deteriorates into several very-dead bodies and strange blue-dyed Chinese characters. And the dead bodies just keep piling up! It’s not long before gem partners Abdul and Chang discover their vibrant passion and extraordinary talent for investigation. They abandon their quest for the long-lost Lapis mine to follow in their pursuit of the truth. It is through the mystical Afghan Malangs whose unique ability of seeing through sightless eyes that provides an obtuse guide for the new detectives. Through these holy men they are led back to Kabul. Confronted with endless goose chases, sniffing out clues, and confounding criminals intent on mayhem and murder; they eventually end their exploits in a battle in the sand dunes of the Desert of Death.

In this richly imagined novel, Carol Beecher goes beyond its who done it with a constantly shifting plot and intriguing puzzle, and a cast of several well-developed principal characters, particularly the partners' devoted and loyal housekeeper, Bibi, and Saamat Khan, the Nomad Clan Chief, that are instrumental to the final success of Abdul Hazrat and Chang Lee, investigators extraordinaire.