Never Name the Dead is the first novel in the Mud Murder Mystery series by D.M. Rowell. Her colleagues know her as Mae, but the Kiowa families she grew up with know her as Mud. She left her Kiowa roots behind to work in Silicon Valley where she has a successful advertising firm. But when she receives a mysterious message from her grandfather, James Sawpole, she returns home to the Kiowa reservation and finds herself trying to solve a murder. She also finds her grandfather is missing, and the reservation is in disarray. Frackers are destroying ancestral land, and the Kiowa families are being forced to sell their cultural artifacts due to poverty. With the help of her cousin, Denny, Mud is determined to find her grandfather, the killer, and a valuable medal stolen from the town museum. Along the way, she will also be forced to find her true self.

This is a quick paced mystery about a woman who finds herself playing detective in her hometown. But it is more a story about a biracial woman returning to her roots where she never felt accepted. Her hair was curly, not straight, and her skin too light. But she was Kiowa to her soul; a talented storyteller in her youth that adored her grandfather.

This a strong beginning to a new series, with a solid plot and well developed characters. I did find Mae’s Silicon Valley subplot a little disruptive to the main storyline. The murder mystery itself is not what sets this series apart from any other, it is the rich Kiowa cultural details. It is the Native American spirit woven through the storytelling that I found to be the heart of the novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, this book grabbed me from the first page, and I read it in a single sitting! Mae receives a cryptic call from her grandfather and heads home to Oklahoma where things just keep getting strangers. First, when her grandfather doesn't show up at the airport, she's forced to accept a ride with an elder who seems a little off. And everyone else seems to be urgently searching for her grandfather, who may have stolen a priceless artifact from the tribal museum. This book is written by a Kiowa storyteller and the voice of Mae--dubbed Mud by a cousin in childhood--is perfect as she tries to navigate her pride in her heritage, her love for her grandfather, and manage a difficult business partner long distance.

I hope that this is just the first of many great books to come from D. M. Rowell.

Thanks to Crookes Lane Books for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley.

Never Name the Dead, though the first in a series, may join the ranks of Native American books along the veins of Tony Hillerman and Anne Hillerman’s Leaphorn/Chee mysteries. I was entranced by the aspects of Kiowa culture found in this novel. All her life, Mud, a biracial woman, has been neither white enough nor Kiowa enough. To cope with a failed relationship and her feelings of not fitting in, she moves to California, reshapes herself as Mae, and establishes her own company. After ten years, she returns to Oklahoma in response to an enigmatic phone call from her grandfather. She leaves her business at a critical point to return home where she finds her grandfather missing and then is forced into the role of a detective. The story was tightly woven.

This murder mystery is tightly woven. When I finished reading, I could scarcely believe the entire novel took place in less than twenty-four hours. She juggles multiple potential suspects, all seemingly capable of killing someone, before the reveal happens

This is not a run-of-the-mill cozy mystery. Rowell covers multiple sociological, historical, and ecological areas: authentic Kiowa cultural details, the many broken treaties with white men, the fact that Native Americans on the whole are the poorest of America’s poor, the raping of the land by oil developers, particularly frackers, and the raping of Kiowa culture by museums and artifact collectors. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Interesting premise here, but overall this was a little too choppy for me. Some of the characters were not fleshed out enough (Georgie, Nita, Anna, the frackers) and some of the scenes were way too extended (especially at Grandfather James' house) and I feel, overall, that Never Name the Dead didn't include enough setting changes. The fracking subplot seemed really underdeveloped as well. The core of the story was interesting and Mud and Denny were likable, but I found the California business interruptions to detract from the Oklahoma story vs. adding anything memorable. My favorite part of the book was related to reading about Kiowa traditions and culture. Also, I never figured out the murderer, which is always a good sign for a mystery. All in all, this was an enjoyable read. I just wish some of the authorial choices were a little different.

I really liked this! It weaves the history of the Kiowa People, a murder, fracking, and turmoil within the Kiowa Tribe. The story itself and the characters were all super believable and I also enjoyed learning about the Kiowa People and their history. I am excited to see more from this author in the future.

Never Name the Dead by D.M. Rowell, published by Crooked Lane Books, is a mystery/thriller with multicultural interest. A well done debut novel that I couldn't put down, literally; once I started reading.
The characters are beautifully drawn, they have depth. Mae - Mud and the reader along is in for the adventure of her life when she returns to her roots from a entirely other life in Silicon Valley. Her tribe is in disarray and she gets drawn into a qeb of secrets, lies, betrayal.
NNtD is outstanding, deep, fast paced, complex, unputdownable.

Never Name the Dead by D.M. Rowell is a book with mystery after mystery. It has the characteristics of Historical fiction. The main character is Mud aka Mae, who is the incoming story keeper of the Kiowa people. She narrates an emergency call from her grandfather Sawpole. This call leads to a river of events, a dead body, and a confession that makes everyone shake their heads. After a little research, I was able to discover that information about the Kiowa people and culture is accurate in the book.
I liked a lot of things in the book. It is emotion-packed; Gerald was getting on my nerves, the tension on air was tangible. The artwork is a curiosity I would want to see in real life. Protection of culture is something I envy. The description was vivid making me feel the high temperatures, see the darkness in the no-no room, and even choke on the cleansing smoke. Never Name the Dead feels authentic due to first-person narration, the local dialect, and other people's speech. It is gripping, at each turn of the page building participation for the discovery of facts and evidence.
The use of local dialect was distracting a little bit, however, it was translated accordingly.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. The ending makes me wonder if D.M. Rowel will write another book as a follow-up. I felt like I have read Gone in the Wind ending again.
I recommend Never Name the Dead to lovers of mystery, historical fiction, and thrillers. If you are curious why Kiowas don't name the dead here is your chance to find out.

greed, murder, murder-investigation, advertising, cultural-exploration, cultural-heritage, fracking, false-information, falsely accused, family, family-dynamics, theft, Kiowa, Oklahoma, amateur-sleuth, relationship-issues, religious-symbolism, historical-places-events, history-and-culture*****

She is Mae at her advertising agency in California where there is an important deal near to closing. She is Mud in her hometown at the Kiowa reservation in Oklahoma where her grandfather has called her for help. She is both, and there are crises in each part of her life at the same time. One of those parts includes a murder involving both a greedy theft of historical import and also the evil of fracking which poisons all water in the area and the need to find the murderer. Her convoluted investigation is a wonder and kept me to the page long after I should have gone to sleep. Well done! And the characters are so well depicted that I felt as if I knew them in my own world here in Wisconsin. A side interest is my comparing the similarities and differences among the many different Nations that I have had some contact with. Excellent read!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

A Kiowa woman is called home to Oklahoma from her high-flying job in Silicon Valley just as a client's IPO is about to go live. But her grandfather needs her, and she can't say no. He doesn't meet her, as expected, at the airport, and instead a cantankerous old man who often sparred with her grandfather gives her a ride, but acts suspiciously, trying to trap her in his truck, then grabbing her bag. Once at home, grandfather is nowhere to be found. Has something happened to him? Does it have to do with the man who is exploiting Kiowa people by purchasing artwork for less than it's worth, or is it related to the fracking that's polluting a nearby spring?

There were things I liked about this book - learning about Kiowa culture and seeing the landscape through the author's eyes. The descriptions of the natural world were the strongest part of the story for me.

Things I didn't like so much: the cultural information is provided as if "Here's something you don't know, let me explain it to you." It interrupted the action and made the narrator a tour guide when there was an opportunity to weave in more about her personal life story, raised as a person not entirely accepted into her community, now working in a very different environment, called home where things aren't going well. It could have been more powerful if integrated more thoroughly into character development. The scene with her grandfather on the mountain made me uncomfortable. Ceremony is something that isn't for public consumption, and too many white folks already have a warped view of native spirituality - maybe that's not for a white reader to say, but it bothered me. The "bad guys" were a bit cartoonish in their mustache-twiddling evil. And the fracking plot was dropped, perhaps to be picked up in a future installment, but it felt sort of overlooked.

Oh, another thing I liked - the cover is gorgeous!

D.M. Rowell’s debut novel, Never Name the Dead, is both 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. It seamlessly captures Mud/Mae's dual lives. Mud, the girl who was never "native" enough, the butt of every joke and Mae, the high powered marketing executive in silicon valley who's capable of wrangling even the most nervous client from her phone. The writing is excellent, the plotting well done, and the characters are superbly drawn. It was a pleasure to read. Highly recommend.

I enjoyed the inclusion of Kiowa culture, and Mud/Mae seems like a really interesting character with a lot of potential.

That said, I found a lot of minor inconsistencies that just slowly built up and were kind of distracting. For example, Mae is chastised by someone for speaking rudely to an elder by questionning him directly -- but that same person then threatens that same elder, his own grandfather, right after.

I also found that the author tells us more than they show us, if that makes any sense. For me, it just made it hard to connect with emotionally. I think the writing style just wasn't for me.

It has been a priviledge to read of the Kiowas - a North Amercian First People tribal group who found their home in Oklahoma. I found it of great interest to learn of some of the Kiowas' customs, culture and of their oral tradition of storytelling as they are interwined in this work of fiction. We are introduced to Mud's grandfather who is a storyteller par excellent and concerned with protecting his culture and of instilling it into the next generations. He trained Mud since she was a pesky young shadow dogging his heels. Don't mess with her now though.

Many of the every day Kiowas' living utensils, regalia, paintings, and so on were disappearing and someone or more were enriching themselves at the cost of many of the Kiowas' families and heritage being whisked away, to be seen no more. Add in much money and a murder which has alarmed Mud and her cousin Denny, and others (not so well meaning) to tracing the trail of these ills' perpetrator. Grandpa himself had also disappeared after an SOS to Mud who was living and working away. Where could he be? Who would protect the traditions and culture now from unscrupulous people or teach the future generations in the Kiowas' ways?

Added stress was the ballancing act between the Kiowas ways and the white man's society and way of living. An uneasy truce and task at times especially when there was an emergency at home and a pressing business situation - out there, happening simultaneously.

The mystery and murder keep one buzzing along creating a pleasant read of multi-cultural interest. What makes this book extra special is that the author herself, is of Kiowas decent. However, whatever you do, never name the dead!

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

March 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

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Ever wonder what it’s like living in two different worlds? If you have, then a novel by D. M. Rowell titled “Never Name the Dead” might help you better understand what it could be like. The main character is child of native and Anglo parents.

Set in Kiowa homelands in modern day Oklahoma, the novel chronicles the trials and tribulations of a woman named Mae in the Anglo world and known as Ahn Tsah Hye-gyah-daw in her native Kiowa world. Her childhood nickname is Mud!

The novel is fast passed and full of connections to Mae’s Kiowa roots. The modern world intrudes in the Kiowa world with sales (near thefts) of tribal treasures, modern day fracking issues, sexual preferences, and Mae’s business in California. A lot of potential strings to this story but Rowell has gathered them well and weaves them into a delightful tapestry for the reader.

Definitely recommend a read as it combines Kiowa spirituality with more modern-world practicality. So happy to have been allowed a pre-publication read for my unbiased review.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Never Name the Dead is D.M. Rowell's debut novel - and what a debut! A thrilling ride through Kiowa country and culture, on the back of an exciting mystery.

The author put much of herself into this story: heritage, identity, family history, and knowledge - and this serves to add depth and a sense of authenticity to the narrative. The characters are also distinct and interesting, especially the main gal Mud who has to navigate some serious complications in two worlds tied only by her innate (inherited?) storytelling skills.
Lastly, I started reading Never Name the Dead expecting a run off the mill murder thriller, but I was pleasantly surprised with the intricacies of the story: this is not just a murder story or just a money-driven theft drama, and answers are more complicated than they seem.

As an only caveat, it does feel that the narrator holds the reader's hand a bit too much, especially during the first half of the book, but it's not a big complaint: the fast-paced action speaks by itself and eases this through the second half.

I was lucky enough to get this book as An ARC from Net Galley and I was completely enamored by the story and the cultural aspect of Kiowa in this novel. It was a fantastic story and experience for me as a reader. Mud was a super cool character and her balancing act of being a businesswoman and going back home and being a detective, but ultimately a storyteller, was fantastic and enthralling. I was really taken with the story and the fact that it took place over one day. The story was tightly woven (maybe too tight in some parts) and the reveals were really cool and twisty. I didn't figure it out until the last 50 pages or so, so bravo to Rowell for keeping the people responsible hidden. I assume there will be more books featuring Mud and I look forward to reading those as well. Good stuff here.

A brilliant story that incorporates the history, culture and customs of the Kiowa Indians in Oklahoma. The protagonist Mae - also known as "Mud" - is a half-breed lesbian Kiowa Indian raised on the reservation. Mae searches for answers when her grandfather goes missing and a dead body is found in his workroom. It is a great story for a debut novel - well done D.M. Rowell - with twists and turns that keeps you on tender hooks until the end. Well worth five (5) stars and highly recommended to all mystery, thriller readers.

Never Name the Dead

This is a powerful story about Mae, aka Mud, a half-breed lesbian Kiowa Indian who grew up on the Kiowa/Comanche/Apache reservation in Oklahoma. After painful teenage years, Mae left the reservation for Silicon Valley and only returns after receiving an urgent message from her grandfather, the tribe’s storyteller. This is a tautly written mystery with interesting facts about the Kiowa that keeps the reader in suspense until the very end. I received an ARC from NetGalley, and the opinions expressed are my own.

D.M. Rowell’s debut novel, Never Name the Dead, is a wonderful novel. Both a murder mystery that hits the ground running right from the beginning, and an exploration of Kiowa Indian culture and history, it seamlessly blends both in a remarkable book that I just could not put down. The writing is excellent, the plotting well done, and the characters are superbly drawn. It was such a pleasure to read this book. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great debut novel. There was an abundance of information on Kiowa culture and on that area of Oklahoma, and I really enjoyed learning about all of it while immersed in the mystery. This was a beautiful story and it caught my attention early on. I can’t wait to read the next book in the Mud Mystery series.

Thank you Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.

“Never Name the Dead” is definitely not a book that takes it slow. As soon as the main character arrives in Oklahoma to check on her grandfather, it’s immediately clear that all is not well, and it’s not long until she is neck-deep in a mystery that includes missing treasures and a dead body. Between the twist and turn-packed plot, and the ample exposure to Kiowa culture and history, I happily breezed through the book while enjoying it on several simultaneous different levels.

To voice only one quibble, it would be that Rowell sometimes held the reader’s hand a little too much. Not only when sharing information when related to all things Kiowa, but a few other spots, like when the main character and narrator “Mud” takes a sentence or two to explain what an IPO was. However, while occasionally distracting, as mentioned before this is only a quibble. Overall, “Never Name the Dead” is a great ride, and I do hope to see more mysteries with a distinctly Native American twist.