Author: Laurie L. Dove
Published by: Berkley on Jan. 21, 2025
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: Berkley Publishing
Book Rating: 8.5/10
To find a missing young woman, the new tribal marshal must also find herself.
At rock bottom following her daughter’s death, ex–Chicago detective Carrie Starr has nowhere to go but back to her roots. Starr’s father never talked much about the reservation where he was raised, but the tribe needs a new marshal as much as Starr needs a place to call home.
In the past decade, too many young women have disappeared from the rez. Some have ended up dead, others just…gone. Now local college student Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr falls into an investigation that leaves her drowning in memories of her daughter—the girl she failed to save.
Starr feels lost in this place she thought would welcome her. And when she catches a glimpse of a figure from her father’s stories, with the body of a woman and the antlers of a deer, Starr can’t shake the feeling that the fearsome spirit is watching her, following her.
What she doesn’t know is whether Deer Woman is here to guide her or to seek vengeance for the lost daughters that Starr can never bring home.
Review:
Intricate, sinister, and twisty!
Mask of the Deer Woman is an intense, ominous tale that finds ex-Chicago detective, now newly appointed tribal marshal, Carrie Starr, heading to Oklahoma and the reservation where her father grew up to investigate the excessive number of missing and murdered native women who seem to have slipped through the cracks or been ignored by the local justice system.
The writing is sharp and sophisticated. The characters are multilayered, troubled, and scarred. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwines and unravels briskly into a menacing tale of mischief, mayhem, corruption, manipulation, poverty, power, coercion, greed, depravity, violence, and murder.
Overall, Mask of the Deer Woman is an intricately woven, informative, highly entertaining mystery by Dove that has a nice amount of suspense, good character development, great pace, and an insightful look into the history, culture, oppression, and struggles of the Indigenous people of Oklahoma.
This novel is available now.
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Thank you to Berkley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.