Mask of the Deer Woman

 

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Thanks to my bookstagram pal Kristin for including me on this tour celebrating this week's paperback release of Mask of the Deer Woman, and to Laurie L. Dove and Berkley for the gifted copy. If you missed this one when it came out last year, now's your chance. 

Carrie Starr is a former Chicago detective who's hanging on by a thread. After her teenage daughter's death, she's numbing the grief with joints and alcohol. Her last option is becoming the marshal for her father's tribe in Oklahoma. She's the only law enforcement on the entire reservation, and she didn't grow up there. She doesn't know the land or the people.

Then Chenoa, a young Indigenous grad student, goes missing, and her mother begs Carrie to find her. Once Carrie starts digging and sees how many women have vanished from the rez over the years, she's a dog with a bone. She finds a strength she probably didn't know she still had.

What I loved:
📍 It puts a spotlight on the epidemic of missing Indigenous women, how their stories get ignored by the media, and how agencies squabble over who should even investigate.
📍 The atmosphere. Dove contrasts the beauty of the land with the greed of people who want to exploit it.
📍 Carrie's journey as a biracial woman reconnecting with the Native roots she was cut off from her whole life.
📍 Folklore and a touch of magical realism that walks the line between the real world and the spiritual one.
📍 It doesn't shy away from poverty, unemployment, generational trauma, and limited opportunities on the reservation.

This is a mystery with layers. It's character driven, intricately plotted, and steadily paced. Carrie is complicated and flawed, and I was rooting for her by the end. I'm already looking forward to the sequel, Cry of the Rain Crow, on December 8. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Grab a copy of Mask of the Deer Woman at Bookshop.org and help out an indie bookstore while you're at it. And don't forget to preorder Cry of the Rain Crow!

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in Missing by E.A. Jackson. It's another female-led police procedural about a missing person.

About the Author

Laurie L. Dove is a reporter and editor whose work has appeared in numerous publications and garnered several honors for outstanding journalism. She graduated with a master’s degree in Creative Writing and Literature from Harvard University. She is an adjunct professor who currently lives and writes in Kansas. Follow Laurie on Instagram and visit her website for more news and information about her books.