Looking for Smoke
by K. A. Cobell
High School    Heartdrum/HarperCollins    416 pp.
6/24    9780063318670    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780063318694    $12.99

This page-turning novel set on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana alternates narration among Mara Racette, Loren Arnoux, Brody Clark, and Eli First Kill, with occasional chapters from the point of view of “unknown.” Rayanne, Loren’s older sister, has been missing for three months, and the police have done little to find her. The novel opens with a powwow, which includes a giveaway ceremony where Rayanne and Loren’s family gives gifts to the community in honor of the sisters’ late grandfather. Hours later, Samantha, a teen who received one of the gifts, is found strangled in a trailer. The next day a wildfire breaks out, and while trying to stop the fire, Mara’s father discovers Rayanne’s body. The discovery leads to an investigation that makes everyone who was at the ceremony a suspect, and Loren will stop at nothing to find her sister’s killer. Emotion and suspense build as more people close to the protagonists become suspects. As each character fights to prove their innocence, secrets are revealed and longtime friendships are questioned. Cobell’s debut novel highlights the impact that the tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People has on communities and families; fictional podcast transcripts provide additional information on the topic, as does an appended author’s note. Recommended for readers who enjoyed Boulley’s Warrior Girl Unearthed (rev. 5/23) and Ferguson’s Those Pink Mountain Nights (rev. 9/23).

From the May/June 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.