Silent Are the Dead - Book #2 from D.M. Rowell

D.M. Rowell's 1st book, Never Name the Dead, was my 1st exposure to the Native American Kiowa tribe. And it was fascinating. Well, now we've got a second book in the series. It's called Silent Are the Dead. Mae Sawpole, whose Kiowa nickname is "Mud," comes back to her tribe in Oklahoma, where she grew up, to help preserve an important Peace Medal (from Thomas Jefferson!). She has a flight back to Silicon Valley the next day, where her tech company is preparing for a huge event that will catapult Mae's company to the next level. The only problem is that "Mud," and her cousin Denny, become aware of fracking on Kiowa land, along with more efforts to steal precious artifacts, and...oh, yeah, a murder! Mud and Denny have about 12 hours to resolve these issues before Mud has to catch a flight back to Northern California in order to be there for her life-changing business event! Besides D.M. writing a very good mystery, it's also really interesting to learn so much about the Kiowa tribe and its language and traditions. I know we learned a lot in Never Name the Dead. But it's great to be reminded of what we already learned and then to learn even more! We all have 24/7 exposure to what we already know. I'm glad that both books remind us that there are other traditions that we may not know much about and that take us out of our own heads for a little while. Thank you, D.M. Keep 'em comin'!