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Celebrate Indigenous Heritage Month in November
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Another Name for Red
by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala
Middle Sister is haunted by everyone in her community who has disappeared--as well as those who remain. Her ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend are walking relics of the girl she used to be, while her family--her activist mother, checked-out father, and attention-starved younger siblings--are reminders of the elder sister she can never live up to. Then there's John Smith, the infamous white man with red cowboy boots living on stolen reservation land, whose obsessive attentions are as repellant as they are compelling. But most of all, there are the thousands of unacknowledged missing and murdered Indigenous women, including Older Sister, whose year-long absence from the reservation has torn her remaining family apart. With local authorities proving useless, Middle Sister decides to start an investigation of her own, beginning with the mysterious Eric--a white man from a neighboring town who Older Sister claimed to love, and who she swore loved her. Attempting to hunt down the correct white Eric in the haystack of Minnesota forces Middle Sister to seek help from the community from which she's grown alienated, starting with her coworker, Casanova; a stray rez dog; and Nookomis, her grandmother who's foreseen her own death. Yet John still lurks in the growing wintry shadows, offering a sort of surrender that Middle Sister can't help being drawn to. In the end, she must choose: either let the guilt consume her or forgive herself and fight.
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Mask of the Deer Woman
by Laurie L. Dove
Indigenous missing women are often dismissed as runaways, addicts, or sex workers. This account zooms in on a reservation in Oklahoma, where heroine Carrie Starr --a former detective with the Chicago Police Department, whose father lived on the rez--has been sent as a punishment to clear cold-case files on the reservation's missing women. Starr, devastated by the death of her daughter, hates her new assignment. Within four days of her arrival, another young woman, a graduate student working on a conservation grant, goes missing. Then the body of yet another missing woman is found.
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The Bone Thief
by Vanessa Lillie
Rhode Island Bureau of Indian Affairs archeologist Syd Walker, who’s Cherokee, returns in this compelling 2nd outing. Having received a promotion, she’s ready when the 300-year-old bones of a child are found at a summer camp run by the powerful Founders Society. But when the remains disappear and a young Indigenous woman goes missing, Syd has to work fast to find answers. Try this next: Marcie R. Rendon’s Cash Blackbear novels.
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Blood Relay
by Devon Mihesuah
Choctaw Detective Perry Antelope has been with her partner, Sophia Burns, for only six months. Perry is a seasoned investigator while the ex-Olympian shot putter Sophia is a former street-smart police officer. Together, they are an intrepid pair with an established record of success. But when Perry and Sophia are called to investigate the disappearance of Dels Billy, a beloved women's Indian Horse Relay rider, they quickly realize that it's not as cut-and-dry as anything they've faced before. Piece by piece, they uncover unsettling connections between Dels's disappearance and a series of unsolved abductions of women from Oklahoma reservations. But the perpetrator always seems to be one step ahead, and Perry soon finds herself--and her family--in the crosshairs of a ruthless killer. Despite her husband's pleas for her to drop the case, Perry is determined to prevent Dels from becoming another statistic. As the investigation deepens, Perry and Sophia follow a tangled web of clues that point to a close-to-home plot more chilling than they could have imagined. Torn between her family's safety and her duty to her community, Perry must race against the clock, and across tribal Nations, to find Dels before her murderous abductor can carry out their sinister plan.
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Broken Fields
by Marcie R. Rendon
Ojibwe sleuth Cash Blackbear returns and is happy sort-of dating a Vietnam vet and driving a tractor all day. But after she finds her farmer boss fatally shot and a mute Indigenous child hiding nearby, Cash helps mentor Sheriff Wheaton with the case. She also tries to make sure the traumatized girl doesn't suffer in foster care like she did.
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Coydog
by David Tromblay
A Native American bounty hunter with a haunted military past is drawn into a deadly manhunt across Oklahoma that spirals into corruption, love, and an undercover descent into a brutal state prison where violent offenders are being transformed into rodeo clowns. Meet Moses Kincaid, a Native American bounty hunter who served in the US Army in Desert Storm and Haiti. Now, to pay the bills, he's taken to tracking down wanted criminals in and around Kansas City.Unaware he has no authority after chasing a man-on-the-run across state lines, Moses scours the Oklahoma map for a guy who ran down two members of the Filthy 13 motorcycle gang and didn't look back. With news of the Oklahoma City bombing still unfolding on the nightly news, locals don't kindly look upon new faces. As the Anadarko County Sheriff's Department, town riffraff, and blood relatives of the bounty prove to be a series of dead ends, a waitress offers Moses a helping hand--and a chance at something more. Though love comes and goes quickly as this manhunt comes to a head.After a slip that costs another man his life, Moses finds himself on the wrong side of the gavel. His only choice is to go undercover at Big Mac, looking for the source of a drug flooding this notorious state prison that turns its violent criminals into rodeo clowns--if he doesn't wind up sharing their fate.
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Wisdom Corner
by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Though he's hoping to escape his past as a hired vigilante on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Virgil Wounded Horse gets pulled back in when a legendary figure from the reservation is murdered. Complicating things, a street gang from a neighboring reservation wants to expand into Rosebud in this gritty follow-up to the award-winning Winter Counts. For fans of: S.A. Cosby; Craig Johnson.
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It Looks Like You in the Dark
by Mathilda Zeller
The only people who know are the people who have gone. Those people no longer have throats to tell us. Tapeesa is newly out of high school and working in a fish processing plant in the Inupiat village, Chukchi, where she's lived her whole life. Maybe that's why people tend to assume she isn't that bright--or maybe her mama is right and she does have bad blood. Either way, she knows the legend, and she knows the history. Her Ahna told her that the hungry creature--the kushtuka--appears to us in the form of someone we love. It will try to get us to follow it. Follow it where? Those who have gone no longer have throats to tell us. The Kobuk River Valley of remote Alaska draws greedy white men time and time again. But whenever they come, death comes too. This time the white men are here for the long term, to create an open pit, a rare earths mine just north of the village. When her sister Esther goes missing, Tapeesa will do anything to get her back. Seeking justice, Tapeesa must track down the kidnapper in the darkening Arctic. What awaits beyond the warmth of her village is more horrible than she could imagine and closer to her than she knows.
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| The Woman Who Wouldn't Die Quietly by Katarina BivaldNovelist Berit Gardner visits her home country of Sweden with her friend DCI Ian Ahmed, who's recovering from an injury. Invited by wealthy Margrethe Cullenberg-Franzén to her 80th birthday dinner on her nearby island, they meet her unhappy family members. When Margrethe dies from a fall, it’s ruled an accident, but it looks like murder to Ian and Berit. This 3rd outing for Berit includes a twisty plot, complex characters, and a well-drawn wintery setting. For fans of: Richard Osman's We Solve Murders. |
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| All We Hide by Robyn GiglLauren Kelly, a trans police detective and mom to a teenage daughter, is the only person in the District Attorney's cold case unit. While dealing with prejudice from colleagues she was once close with, she re-investigates the murder of a trans sex worker after the person who was convicted was freed due to police misconduct. Lauren, who knew the victim in high school, finds links to powerful people and to her own father, now a retired cop with dementia. Try this next: Vanessa Lillie's Syd Walker novels. |
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| Murder on Charity Lane by Jo NicholsIn coastal California, elderly eccentric Mrs. B rents out several cottages circling a small green space. When one becomes vacant, she invites murder suspect CJ Moore to move in. Mrs. B is sure that CJ didn't kill her employer, a wealthy philanthropist, but the dead man's much-younger widow claims she saw CJ push him down the stairs. Gathering the Marigold Cottages Murder Collective for their 2nd case, Mrs. B aims to prove CJ's innocence, but another murder raises questions. |
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| The Blue Flame by George PelecanosThough he’s in his 70s, Derek Strange still goes to his Strange Investigations office. One day, a defense attorney shows up and hires him to verify the alibi of a client charged with murder. Derek digs in, and the case leads to another killing. Set in an authentically depicted Washington, D.C., this thoughtful, gritty novel is the 6th outing for Strange. For fans of: Walter Mosley; David Swinson; TV’s The Wire, for which George Pelecanos wrote. |
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| Murder in St. James's Park by Vanessa RileyIn 1807 London, Lady Abigail Worthing isn't pleased that her husband from a marriage-of-convenience has returned after months away. So after she finds him dead in the park, everyone thinks she did it. Teaming up with her handsome neighbor to investigate, she uncovers stunning revelations that leave her questioning everything. Newcomers can start with this 4th book, but those who want all the backstory should pick up the 1st entry, Murder in Westminster. |
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| My Sister Is Going to Kill Me by Nina SimonThough life is busy, strait-laced Liv and free-spirited Mandy always take a sister trip. This year, Mandy handled the planning and signed them up to go rafting through the Grand Canyon with a beauty company group she's connected to. When threats and murder interrupt the women’s sojourn, the sisters try to uncover the killer in their midst. For fans of: the author’s Mother-Daughter Murder Night; funny, fast-paced mysteries. |
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The Vanished Sister
by Sherry Thomas
It's been three years since Charlotte Holmes struck a decisive blow against Moriarty's operations in Britain, three years of relative calm and benign developments. In a buoyant mood, everyone gathers at Lord Ingram's seaside cottage in North Devon for what promises to be a perfect summer holiday. Until Mrs. Watson receives an invitation from Mrs. Carstairs, her long-estranged sister, to attend a house party nearby. Mrs. Carstairs has married spectacularly well. She is the mistress of a great manor, a doyen of all domestic arts, and still an unforgettable beauty. Now she clamors for a reconciliation with her sister. Mrs. Watson does not trust Mrs. Carstairs's motives. Yet she cannot help but feel tremors of the old admiration for this once-beloved sister. Then Mrs. Carstairs disappears without a trace. The next day a woman is discovered floating on the waves, her build and coloring matching those of Mrs. Carstairs. But her husband insists that the corpse fished out of the Bristol Channel cannot be his wife. So where is the real Mrs. Carstairs? Would she have purposely dragged Mrs. Watson into a murder investigation? Or was it Sherlock Holmes's involvement that she needed from the very beginning?
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Recent Cozy Mystery Releases
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The Pumpkin Vice Cafe: A Bakeshop Mystery
by Ellie Alexander
As autumn settles over the charming hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, ushering in cool, crisp breezes and a stunning show of color, everyone at Torte is keeping warm by whipping up a bevy of fall treats and spicy lattes. Jules is nearing her due date, and the whole town is abuzz--placing bets on when the twins will make their grand debut. Helen and the team are working on a secret surprise baby shower, complete with cupcakes, cookies, and a feast fit for royalty, or maybe just a mother-to-be. Meanwhile, Lance and Arlo are busy planning their nuptials in what is sure to be as close to a royal wedding as Ashland has ever seen. But when the high-end wedding planner they hired is found dead in the frigid waters of Ashland Creek, what looks like a tragic accident, a slip on an icy bridge, quickly reveals itself as something much more sinister. Jules knows at once--this was no mishap. A killer is loose in Ashland, and they may be ready to strike again.
Series note: Bakeshop mystery #23
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A Critical Conjunction
by Lorna Barrett
A new business isn't the only thing going belly-up in the newest mystery in Lorna Barrett's New York Times bestselling Booktown series. When Tricia Miles's sister, Angelica, announces to their chosen family that they're going into business together, it's news to Tricia. But rejuvenating Stoneham Stoneware, a struggling kitchen and home goods store, is something the sisters know they can do. It's a win-win situation. But right after they take possession, they find the store trashed and the previous owner dead. Leona sold the enterprise to Angelica because she needed the money, but tried to renege on the deal after it had gone through. Not one to back down, Angelica refused to cancel, which made Leona bitter, leading to strained discussions witnessed by others. But it turns out plenty of others had issues with the recently deceased as well. Tricia will have to crack the case before the murderer destroys not only the fledgling business, but more lives as well.
Series note: Booktown mystery #20
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| The Ghost and the Dead Librarian by Cleo CoyleOwner of a small-town Rhode Island bookstore, Penelope Thornton-McClure hosts a historian who's promoting her new book that includes local secrets. When the author is murdered, Penelope teams up with the ghost of 1940s PI Jack Shepard, who was killed in the shop, to solve the case. This spin-off of the author's Haunted Bookshop series marks the 1st book in the Haunted Bookshop Detective series. For fans of: Amanda Chapman's Mrs. Christie mystery series, which also has supernatural elements. |
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Death of a Grill Master
by Lee Hollis
Mass market paperback original
After a record-breaking tourist season, Bar Harbor is ready for the less eventful off-season. But the murder of a barbecue baron will keep restaurateur Hayley Powell busy well after Labor Day. Despite the evidence, Hayley thinks there’s more to the story than a gunshot from a disgruntled pit master. Unfortunately, the new police chief, just arrived from Boston, is more interested in layoffs than in listening to Hayley’s theories. So she starts grilling anyone she can to find out what happened on the party boat that Hank was aboard earlier in the evening. Hayley just hopes that when the smoke clears, she’ll be able to serve up the real culprit to the cops—and bring the temperature down in this picturesque town . . .
Series note: this is the 19th Hayley Powell food and cocktails mystery.
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The Mystic and the Missing Girl: A Mystery
by Vikki Vansickle
Drew Benson has inherited her aunt Hannah's metaphysical store. She is expected to sell it, but something she hasn't really admitted to anyone is making her want to stay--she also has psychic powers, as her aunt did. Twenty years ago, Hannah was involved in a missing-girl case. Drew becomes a reluctant detective when a high school friend, now a journalist investigating the cold case, asks for her help. There are many leads to follow, and this is a chance for Drew to help clear her aunt's name using her psychic powers.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Dakota County Library
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