LOOKING FOR SMOKE, by K. A. Cobell, Heartdrum, June 4, 2024, Hardcover, $19.99 (young adult, ages 14 and up)
It’s up to the four people of interest to solve the murders of two Blackfeet Nation girls in Looking for Smoke, by K. A. Cobell.
When local girl Loren includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor Loren’s missing sister, Mara thinks she’ll finally make some friends on the Blackfeet reservation.
Instead, a girl from the Giveaway, Samantha White Tail, is found murdered.
Because the four members of the Giveaway group were the last to see Samantha alive, each becomes a person of interest in the investigation. And all of them—Mara, Loren, Brody, and Eli—have a complicated history with Samantha.
Despite deep mistrust, the four must now take matters into their own hands and clear their names. Even though one of them may be the murderer. —Synopsis provided by Heartdrum
Looking for Smoke is fiction but is based on the very real the epidemic of missing Indigenous women and girls. In 2020, there were 5,295 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, according to the National Crime Information Center. The murder rate of Native women is three times that of white women.
Author KA Cobell is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and set Looking for Smoke in the Blackfeet Nation reservation in Montana. Cobell hopes Looking for Smoke will bring attention to the epidemic. She says in her author’s note that this was a story that needed to be told without trivializing or sensationalizing the pain many Native people are enduring. She wanted to send a message that was not easily forgotten.
And it’s hard to forget Looking for Smoke.
Cobell’s choice to make Mara an “outsider” gives non-Native readers an entry point. She then fills in with Loren, Brody and Eli, going deeper into many of the issues that face their community. But it’s not just the issues she delves into, but the sense of extended family, their community, their traditions. You gain a deep understanding of how devastating and far-reaching the consequences.
The story unfolds from the four points of view, with plenty of twists and turns and lots of atmosphere along the way. Looking for Smoke is a complex thriller that does, in fact, stick with you. I look forward to reading more from this author.
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