ARC Review: Never Name the Dead by D. M. Rowell

Never Name the Dead
Author: D. M. Rowell
Series: A Mud Sawpole Mystery
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (November 8, 2022)

Description: Old grudges, tribal traditions, and outside influences collide for a Kiowa woman as forces threaten her family, her tribe, and the land of her ancestors, in this own-voices debut perfect for fans of Winter Counts.

No one called her Mud in Silicon Valley. There, she was Mae, a high-powered professional who had left her Kiowa roots behind a decade ago. But a cryptic voice message from her grandfather, James Sawpole, telling her to come home sounds so wrong that she catches the next plane to Oklahoma. She never expected to be plunged into a web of theft, betrayal, and murder.

Mud discovers a tribe in disarray. Fracking is damaging their ancestral lands, Kiowa families are being forced to sell off their artifacts, and frackers have threatened to kill her grandfather over his water rights. When Mud and her cousin Denny discover her grandfather missing, accused of stealing the valuable Jefferson Peace medal from the tribe museum—and stumble across a body in his work room—Mud has no choice but to search for answers.

Mud sets out into the Wildlife Refuge, determined to clear her grandfather's name and identify the killer. But Mud has no idea that she's about to embark on a vision quest that will involve deceit, greed, and a charging buffalo—or that a murderer is on her trail.

My Thoughts: This mystery introduces Mae Sawpole who is a Kiowa currently working in the Silicon Valley as a firm that gets companies ready for their IPOs. She is under deadline and having problems with her partner messing things up when she gets a call from her grandfather back in Oklahoma which gets her on the next plane to see him.

Mae, who is known as Mud in Kiowa country, is surprised when her grandfather isn't waiting for her when she gets off the plane. She is even more surprised at her welcoming committee. A counselor in the tribe, an old friend of her grandfather, and a woman who seems to have an agenda are all looking for her grandfather.

She heads to her grandfather's home with Wilson, the old friend, but he seems to be doing everything possible to delay her. When she finally gets to her grandfather's she finds a Wilson dead in her grandfather's private workroom. 

Mud had to figure out how to find her grandfather who has been accused of stealing a priceless Peace medal and who just might be a suspect in Wilson's death. It doesn't take much time for Mud to discover that there is some illegal fracking going on somewhere on Kiowa land and also that an unscrupulous art dealer is searching out and selling priceless Kiowa artifacts including the one her grandfather is accused of stealing. 

This was an engaging story steeped in Kiowa history and culture. Mud is an intriguing character who is torn between her life in California and her life in Oklahoma. Her grandfather is currently the Kiowa story keeper, and he has trained Mud to be his successor, but she can't do that from California. Nor can she run her business from Oklahoma. 

This story does bring some of the plot threads to a successful conclusion, but quite a few others, including Mud's future, are left dangling for future books in this series. 

Favorite Quote:

My mind churned with increasingly dark thoughts. What was going on with Buck and Wilson and the Jefferson Peace medals and fracking? How did Grandpa fit into this mess?

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.