LOOKING FOR SMOKE

Mara Racette thought her biggest problem was not fitting in—and then one of her classmates went missing and another one was murdered.

“If you want to get away with murder, do it on an Indian reservation.” After trouble at her old school, Mara finds herself on her father’s Blackfeet tribal land in Browning, Montana. She tries to remain under the radar, but that becomes impossible when she and three classmates, Brody Clark, Loren Arnoux, and Eli First Kill, discover the body of a murdered teenage girl during the annual Indian Days celebration. The victim, Samantha White Tail, is connected to all four of them, and they now find themselves suspects. This debut from Cobell, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, alternates between each of the leads’ perspectives, casting enough suspicion on each major player to keep armchair sleuths guessing. Transcripts from a true-crime podcast are interspersed, along with segments from “Unknown,” a mysterious, anonymous voice whose interludes add to the suspense. Throughout, the author is reverent in small and distinct ways toward Blackfeet tribal customs and craft, which contributes to building a rich setting. The novel skillfully raises awareness of the tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women while offering up an unflinching thriller that’s full of clever misdirection.

This thriller grounded in very real problems doesn’t disappoint.