Tribal lore portrays the Deer Woman as a warning. She is trying to lead those who would endanger others onto a path of change. Should they resist, she can become vengeful.
MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN is the debut novel of Laurie Dove. The story introduces us to Marshal Carrie Starr. She has recently accepted a position on an Oklahoma reservation to review and research the investigations of missing Ingigenous women. She has also recently lost her daughter to murder, leaving her in a fragile state of mind. Dove has done an excellent job of describing life on a reservation in an area where their traditions are not respected by those outside the tribe and the younger members of the tribe itself. Marshal Starr has also been assigned to investigate the disappearance of a young Native woman who was conducting studies of the wildlife on the reservation. At this point, she begins to see the Deer Woman.
The story takes the reader into the investigation, displaying all of the apathy from the local law enforcement while the lack of trust among the residents themselves does as much harm to the process. I've read many stories with similar threads. Dove's Marshal Starr shows a dedication to finding the missing and stopping the disappearances. It will be interesting to see if Dove can build her into a protector of her people.

Reminiscent, in some ways, of Nick Medina’s SISTERS OF THE LOST NATION, MASK IF THE DEER WIMAN, is an important reminder of the ways in which society fails indigenous women, girls, and two spirit individuals everyday moment of everyday. It also contains the same touch of gothic horror, touching on the supernatural while never fully confirming nor denying its existence in Carrie Star’s world.
It is also a book about homecoming and belonging, essential in a time where so many of us are being made to feel as though we don’t belong in the place we’ve always considered home (ironic considering that place is land stolen from the very people about whom this book focuses on), about what people are willing to do for power and money (also relevant), and about the power of story in daily life including the strength it can give us when we thing we have none left and the ways in which it can connect us with our best selves.
My only quibble is that the writing occasionally jumped voices in the middle of a section - as this is an arc, it’s very possible that was cleaned up before the book went to print.

Timely, relevant, and an important reminder of the ways this government treats the people who were here first, especially women and girls, wrapped up in a twisty mystery with an exciting climax, I would definitely recommend MASK OF THR DEER WOMAN.

I didn’t enjoy this book and I don’t like to give detailed reviews in cases like this because I know everyone’s taste is different. I found the plot slow and the characters unengaging. The issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women is so important, and I want to recognize this book for shining light on it, but I wouldn’t recommend the book itself.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Grieving ex-cop Starr takes a job with the BIA as a tribal marshal in her native Oklahoma. As she struggles to re-connect with her heritage, the Native community is rocked by the disappearance of a young woman, the brutal murder of another and the schemes of local politicians and Big Oil to buy up reservation land.

Woven throughout are sightings of Deer Woman, a legendary supernatural figure of vengeance. Men ignore or usurp the power of women at their own peril.

Starr is the ultimate fish-out-of-water, caught between the White establishment and the Indigenous community and not feeling comfortable in her own skin. Dealing with the ongoing trauma of her teenage daughter's death, she self=medicates with alcohol and pot, which hampers her ability to do her job.

I felt that the important topics of missing and endangered Native women, domestic violence, and the ongoing efforts to improve the lives of those living on reservations were undercut somewhat by Starr's focus on her own issues. The choice to have random chapters told from other characters' p-o-v also hampered the plot. Still, a solid first effort!

Carrie Starr moves to Oklahoma to become a marshal for a reservation after a problem in Chicago at her previous job in a complex story with several layers in Mask of the Deer Woman by Laurie L. Dove.

The main plot revolves around a disadvantaged group of indigenous people who have had women stray from the reservation, never to be seen again. Will Carrie be able to solve the cold cases along with the two current ones? Unbeknownst to Carrie, she has connections to the reservation through her father but has her own demons to fight. Will she be able to do her job and fight for justice?

Through it all, many characters have personal agendas, even if they think others are with them. Multiple plots are happening, but we only seem to scratch the surface. There are twists and turns and so many secrets. Evil is on the reservation and its surrounding small town, especially with plans for an oil pipeline on their lands.

The prologue gives clarity to the story, and the descriptions are vivid throughout. The author highlights the indigenous beliefs spoken about, and the Deer Woman plays an important role. There is closure in solving the crimes, but there is also a surprising twist at the end. The epilogue tied up loose ends.

Mask of the Deer Woman reveals truths about life on a reservation and how indigenous peoples living there are mostly forgotten. With the mysterious disappearance of many of the young women, will the new marshal be able to bring closure and peace by solving the crimes?

The review was posted on NovelsAlive.

4.5⭐️

After a devastating personal loss, former Chicago detective Carrie Starr returns to the Saliquaw Nation reservation in Oklahoma, where her father was raised. As the newly appointed tribal marshal she has been tasked with revisiting cold cases of the disappearance of Indigenous women over the last decade - cases that have been largely ignored, almost forgotten over time due absence of local law enforcement presence on the reservation. With minimal resources at her disposal, Carrie has to juggle keeping peace among the community over proposed infrastructural changes to the area that have several entities involved who would go to any length to protect their own interests, look into the cold cases and investigate the recent disappearance of Chenoa Cloud, a local young woman reported missing by her mother. The narrative follows Carrie as she digs deep into the lives of the close-knit community- their traditions, history, beliefs and local ‘lore, the most significant of which is that of Deer Woman - a presence Carrie experiences as she struggles to reconnect with roots, deal with her own grief, find Chenoa before it’s too late and unravel the mystery behind the missing young women.

Mask of the Deer Woman by Laurie L. Dove is an intense and thought-provoking novel with an intricately plotted mystery at its core. The writing is powerful and the author has seamlessly woven the folklore/ magical realism element into the heart of the novel. The element of magical realism certainly enriches the narrative, as does the focus on Carrie’s cathartic journey as she grapples with her own loss. The plot-driven and character-driven aspects of the novel are well-balanced and the author has done a commendable job of highlighting real issues and describing life on the reservation – the sense of community and the constant struggle to protect time-honored traditions and preserve Native American history as well as the challenges faced by both older generations and youth - lack of opportunity, poverty and addiction, racism and discrimination, corruption, crimes against women and much more. The mystery is cleverly crafted and I enjoyed following Carrie as she leaves no stone unturned in her search for Chenoa and to see that justice is served. The pacing is on the slower side, but this suits the nature of the story and does not detract from the overall experience.

Overall, I found this to be an impactful read and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for the digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Mask of the Deer Woman by Laurie L Dove
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Carrie Starr is the new tribal marshall on the reservation her father was raised on. Right away an upset mother asks her to find her missing daughter. But many girls have gone missing on the reservation, and those found are usually not alive.
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What I liked:
-I usually enjoy missing person storylines and this story was done well. Where is Chenoa? Why hasn’t she contacted her mother? Is she still alive?
-Then there was the potential deal with the oil company. Who will profit? Will it help or harm those on the reservation?
-There were a lot of players and I enjoyed seeing what each of them brought to the story.
-I loved learning about the lore behind Deer Woman.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this story. I wish there would have been a little bit more at the end, I wasn’t ready for it to stop.

Thank you @PRHAudio for the complimentary audiobook and to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the ARC.

“Maybe angry women were actually just hungry. Fucking hungry. Tired of counting and keeping track and doing it right and smiling when in the end it didn’t matter anyway. We washed our faces and put on lipstick and wore uncomfortable shoes and didn’t eat dessert and we fucking smiled and smiled and smiled until our interior spaces became molten.”

Powerful!! That’s the best word I can think of to describe this debut book about an ex-Chicago detective that heads back to her roots on the Rez to help with the staggering number of missing indigenous women.

She brings with herself her own tragedy and losses and uses that as fuel to shed light on and try to solve these mysteries.

I love a strong female character and I always appreciate the spotlight that these types of stories shine on the real problems facing women, indigenous in particular, today. Overall a solid debut and fantastic to listen to on audio!

Carrie Starr is the new Tribal marshall on the Oklahoma reservation where her father grew up. While dealing with her own grief, she is tasked with finding a college student that has recently disappeared from the rez. Sounds like a strong MC and a great setting for a mystery, doesn’t it?

I tried and failed to connect with or care much about Carrie, however, I did enjoy how the author wove the Mask of the Deer Women legend into the story. Dove also made a point to emphasize the strength and resilience of indigenous women.

While the ending was satisfying enough, the pacing and changing POV’s were not always easy to follow. I had to flip back several times to remind myself who the minor characters were and their connection to the mystery. 3 stars may be generous.
Thank you to #BerkleyBesties and NetGalley for a digital copy- releases on January 21, 2025.

This is a book about rage and despair. We follow Carrie Starr as she begins a new job as a tribal marshal on the reservation her father grew up on. Starr had recently lost her teen daughter, and battles with that reality throughout the book. Starr is also dealing with the loss of her job as a police detective, which is what brought her to the rez in the first place. Starr is depressed, a barely functioning alcoholic, and an outsider to the community she’s been thrust into.
The tone of this book was raw and haunted, and that atmosphere seemed to permeate every scene. We follow Starr as she begrudgingly investigates the disappearance of another young woman, and slowly realizes there may be more than meets the eye. I was desperate to know what happened next because I was desperate for it to be something good.
As the story progresses, we meet a variety of characters who are also in their own stages of grief. There are the parents of missing girls, heads of the community, and other members of the reservation who are all deeply affected by loss. And there are also characters actively adding to that grief, like a suspicious rancher and a power-hungry mayor. We get a few chapters with different POVs and interconnected timelines that add to the overall mystery.
What really turned this book into a 5-star read for me was the Deer Woman. At first, she seems to just be a figment of Starr’s alcohol-affected imagination. But as the plot builds, the Deer Woman becomes more and more present. Her slow addition to the story made it even more compelling to me, and changed the book from a standard thriller to a more unique message.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys traditional thrillers, is interested in reading a book about Indigenous people and the realities of life on a reservation, or anyone looking for a modern mythology retelling!
Thanks to Berkley for the free book in exchange for an honest review!

I am not typically a fan of thrillers but when a book centers around a troubled native female law enforcement officer, I am immediately sucked in.

Carrie Starr, who prefers to go by Starr, has recently returned to the reservation where her father grew up, on the Oklahoma and Kansas border. There have been a string of missing indigenous women and after disgrace at her last job in Chicago and the death of her daughter, this job with the BIA is her only option. Immediately, a mother comes in about her missing adult daughter but Starr doesn’t jump into the investigation in a way that please the mother. Struggling with alcohol and memories, Starr is also haunted by visions of the Deer Woman, a local legend of female revenge.

With plenty of twists and turns, the reader is left guessing, even while the list of suspects grows and grows, with each character having the potential to be a true creep.

The use of the legend alongside the investigation and the stark reality of life on the reservation, the reader is transported to the setting.

I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley Publishing Group for the DRC! All opinions are my own!

Read if you like:
🔀 Twists and Turns
🦅 Indigenous Stories
⚠️ MMIW Awareness Plots
🔎 Dectective Mysteries
👻 Horror Elements

Mask of the Deer Woman is a powerful and poignant novel that weaves together mystery, cultural identity, and the haunting issue of missing & murdered Indigenous women.

The story follows Carrie Starr, a former Chicago detective grieving the loss of her daughter, as she returns to the Saliquaw reservation to work as a tribal marshal. Her first case—investigating the disappearance of Chenoa Cloud, a local college student—forces Carrie to confront both her past and the systemic challenges faced by the indigenous people.

The inclusion of Indigenous folklore, especially the figure of the enigmatic Deer Woman, brings a layer of mysticism and cultural depth to the story and a splash of horror elements. The novel also serves as a stark reminder of the real-life crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, a theme that was handled with care and gravity.

Carrie’s struggles with identity, loss, and redemption make her a compelling and relatable protagonist. Mask of the Deer Woman is more than a mystery—it’s a heartfelt and thought-provoking exploration of grief, justice, and the strength of Indigenous women and their stories. This is both a timely and essential novel, offering a deeply moving and enlightening reading experience.

Thank you so much to Berkley for my gifted ARC & finished copy, and to PRHA for my gifted audiobook.

I love a procedural and when a procedural goes outside the expected boxes of perspective and plot I am bound to enjoy it all the more. I definitely enjoyed MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN because not only was there a taut mystery with a lot of complex components, it also has a complicated protagonist with a compelling backstory, and a very well defined throughline to talk about very relevant issues facing Indigenous people living in America today. Whether that's the MMIWG2S epidemic, the poverty within Indigenous communities (especially on reservations), systemic racism and violence, and the way that oil corporations try to snatch up land for their own uses. If Laurie L. Dove keeps writing stories about Carrie Starr I will read them.

This was a messy, relatable, emotionally raw, utterly relevant mystery/thriller debut about an Indigenous woman who is lost, and the new mixed race reserve Marshall who is tasked with finding her and who can barely hold it together after the death of her own daughter. Twisty, REAL and unputdownable, I loved this book a lot and highly recommend it for fans of authors like Marcie R Rendon and her Where they last saw her or The Sunshine Vicram series by Darynda Jones. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you @BerkleyPub for the free book and thank you @PRHAudio for the #gifted listening copy of Mask of the Deer Woman! #BerkleyBookstagram #BerkleyIG #berkley #PRHAudioPartner #PRHAInfluencer #berkleypub #MaskoftheDeerWoman #LaurieLDove

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐋. 𝐃𝐨𝐯𝐞
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: 𝐈𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓

Mask of the Deer Woman was an excellent debut by author Laurie L. Dove. I went into this book thinking this would just be a missing persons novel, but was surprised to learn it was so much more.

Carrie Starr is a former Chicago detective and has hit rock bottom. When the reservation where she was raised needs a new Marshall, she decides to take the job. With young women missing and some ending up dead, Staff has a lot of work ahead of her. All of which keeps reminding of her of her daughter, who Staff was unable to save. Now, on the Rez, Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr is charged with investigating the college students disappearance.

Starr was such an interesting character, and you could tell she was definitely an outside on the rez. She had been through so much and did her best to fit in, but still really struggled to connect. There were lots of elements to this book, and topics such as oil drilling, endangered species, and political issues, to name a few. I also really appreciate learning about Native folklore and enjoyed the magical realism elements of the book.

🎧I started with the physical book, and then switched to the audiobook, which was narrated by Isabella Star Lablanc. I thought the narrator did an exceptional job narrating this book and loved how well she was able to bring forward such strong emotions to really capture the emotions of Starr and the rest of the characters. I would definitely recommend this one on audio!

Posted on Goodreads on January 20, 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around January 20, 2025: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on January 21, 2025
**-will post on designated date

This focuses on the important topic of MMIWG, and I think that those are always important stories to see and recognize. I found this one hard to connect to with Starr's disassociation- and the slow revealing of her past, and felt like that was part of what made the story feel a little fuzzy and non cohesive at times.

Suspenseful! Dark!

Carrie Starr has taken the job as a tribal Marshall with Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Saliquaw Nation near Dexter Springs as a way to transition back to the force.
She’d been a detective in Chicago until her daughter had died from an overdose.
Carrie had tracked the supplier of the drugs, the perpetrator, down and left him with bullets in his back. Nothing proved she’d been there.
Now she’s at a place her father had come from.
Her brief was to look at the women who’d gone missing. So many!
Currently she’s investigating the disappearance of Chenoa Cloud. Is she missing or somewhere on the rez?
Her investigations will lead her into strange areas of tribal spirituality, murder, embezzlement, and a host of other challenges.
So many problems, so many blank spaces, and when the hunter becomes the hunted things become very tight.

A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Carrie Starr ruined her career as a Chicago detective by taking revenge on her daughter’s killer. She takes the only job left to her—as a marshal on a Native American reservation. But now she’s haunted by the disappearance of numerous Native women. Can Deer Woman guide her to answers so she can help them, or at least bring their families some closure?
Starr is definitely a lost soul, attempting to drown her grief in drugs and alcohol. It's a tough read, but draws attention to our national epidemic of missing and murdered native women.

Intense and provacative, Mask of the Deer Woman illuminates the prevailing MMIW crisis that wrecks havoc on Indigenous communities across the country.

This is a hard book for me to review.

On the one hand, I appreciated the commentary on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. On how they (and their families looking for them) get dismissed and forgotten by law enforcement, on the generational trauma and racism, and ongoing colonialism that impacts Indigenous peoples every day.

On the other hand, I don't think Carrie Starr and her story were the best avenue to make this essential commentary. She mostly elicited such annoyance and negative feelings from me that it distracted from the important messages and themes the author was trying to convey. I also found that the multiple POVs were too much and gave away the mystery. I would've appreciated one or two POVs to get away from Carrie's, but the amount the author had was too much for me. I had sympathy for Carrie, what she went through, and as half-Indigenous, never feeling like she belonged in either the white world or the Indigenous world (something I can relate to as a transracial adoptee). However, I never connected with her, and I was rooting for her to move away from her biases for the sake of the missing women, not specifically for her character development.

The only redeeming characters I found were the Deer Woman and Chenoa. I loved the storytelling aspect, and the story of Deer Woman was a shining star.