Advance Readers Give 5 Stars to Never Name the Dead
Readers Comments
Never Name the Dead by D. M. Rowell
"Never Name the Dead weaves a tale of timely Native issues like fracking and poverty with a breathless mystery."
- Buzzfeed
"[A] debut wrapped in Kiowa history, stories, and culture . . . Recommended for readers of David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s Winter Counts."
- Library Journal
“Rowell’s Never Name the Dead is an impressive debut, charting a woman’s return from Silicon Valley to her roots, the Kiowa tribal
land in Oklahoma, where she finds a divided tribe, land threatened by fracking, and her own grandfather missing and
possibly framed for a crime she knows he didn’t commit. The novel then becomes a detective story with a deep sense of
place and history. Rowell brings notes of poetry to the dark tale of corruption."
- CrimeReads
"[Never Name the Dead] may join the ranks of Native American books along the veins of Tony Hillerman and Anne Hillerman's Leaphorn/Chee mysteries"
- Midwest Book Review
"Greed and murder face off against the power of traditional Native American wisdom and rituals in a gripping tale set in Oklahoma on a reservation
fighting to preserve the Kiowa culture and way of life. Mystical and magical, D. M. Rowell’s debut novel puts her in the ranks of Tony Hillerman,
with a resolute female sleuth whose name is Mud but whose vision, purified with sacred smoke, is crystal clear."
- Eric Redman, award-nominated author of Bones of Hilo
"Oil frackers and regalia looters meet their match in Mae "Mud" Sawpole, a Silicon Valley exec and former college softball slugger who returns to her Kiowa homeland in Oklahoma to settle the score."
- Kris Lackey, author of the Maytubby-Bond series
"A well done debut novel that I couldn't put down, literally … NNtD is outstanding, deep, fast paced, complex, unputdownable."
- KD
... a mind-boggling showcase of all that's right in the genre, full of mystery, excitement, and plot twists that took me by surprise time and time again"
- David Sanchez
"This was a novel that I could not put down."
- Pratiksha Yalakkishettar.
"... a murder mystery and an exploration of Kiowa Indian culture and history. This fast paced novel hits the ground running and I was gripped by every page. … The writing is excellent, the plotting well done, and the characters are superbly drawn. It was a pleasure to read. Highly recommend."
- Linda Schearer
"Wow, this book grabbed me from the first page, and I read it in a single sitting!"
- Roxanne Spence
"Never Name the Dead … may join the ranks of Native American books along the veins of Tony Hillerman and Anne Hillerman’s Leaphorn/Chee mysteries."
- Suanne Schafer
"I’ve only read the first chapter, but I think you have a winner! Now back to reading."
- Amy
"I really loved the spiritual traditions added throughout.".
"Never Name the Dead weaves a tale of timely Native issues like fracking and poverty with a breathless mystery."