Silent Are the Dead – D.M. Rowell (Audio Narrator – Katie Anvil Rich)

It is her cousin Denny’s fault that Mud Sawpole got the nickname “Mud” on her Kiowa reservation. We eventually learn how that happened. Mud has long been gone from her reservation and her indigenous roots, running a successful operation in California. Her business seems to be a marketing firm that creates stories for the brands it represents. This fits, because Mud’s beloved grandfather is the anointed storyteller for their tribe. He has long since designated Mud as his heir to this title, but she chose to leave and has been happy with the decision. But her return has her deeply reflecting about where she belongs. This is the second entry in this series and I need to go back for the first story, which involved Mud’s return to the reservation to help her grandfather. She has not been home for ten years.

As this story opens, the prior story is referenced by a cleansing ceremony related to the return of a stolen artifact that Mud helped recover. Mud has not yet returned home, so the two novels happen immediately in sequence. Many artifacts are being purchased for bargain prices and sold for many times the acquisition price by an unsavory man and his partners in the tribe. Mud’s grandfather continues to be upset as well that people are conducting illegal fracking operations on a property bordering his land, contaminating his creek. His efforts to get them to stop are futile and the people on the sight are hostile and possibly dangerous. Mud’s cousin Denny convinces her to spend her last couple of days in the area trying to address both the artifact purchases and the fracking.

Early on, we meet some of the players in tribal government and many people Mud remembers from growing up on the reservation. When a key person is murdered, various unexpected things start to unfold and Mud is drawn in. Throughout, she is conflicted over her responsibilities to her business and her responsibilities to family and the tribe. This whole novel was very satisfying. There are some really funny parts. Along the way, we learn about the old ways and the loss of the old ways,. The mystery is quite good and the audio version had great voicing by Katie Anvil Rich.