Evil Dead Center: A Mystery

"The dialogue is excellent, the sense of place vivid and memorable". — Lambda Book Report

"Readers will learn Ojibwa words of greeting and blessing as they enjoy a lesbian mystery that adds some cultural diversity to the subgenre". — ALA Booklist

Renee LaRoche takes to her jeep and the investigative trail once again in Evil Dead Center, the second Native American lesbian mystery from Carole laFavor. When an Indian woman is found dead just off the Red Earth Reservation, the white coroner rules the Jane Doe a death by exposure. But an unexpected phone call from Renee's old girlfriend, Cal Beltrain — her political buddy and lover during AIM (American Indian Movement) days — raises questions about the woman's identity. As Renee and the Red Earth tribal police run down clues, the murder motive is exposed: an attempt to cover up a child pornography ring preying on Ojibwa kids placed in white foster homes.

In prose that reveals the traditions, joys, and hardships of daily life on the reservation, the author explores the often conflicting cultural influences in Renee's world: the emotional tug of her time with Cal, and the realities of her increasingly committed relationship with her chimook (white) lover, Samantha; the stories given her by the women of her Bear Clan family, and the ways in which she uses them to track the perpetrators of escalating porn-related crime.

A terrifying chase in the Boundary Waters wilderness area justas an unexpected late-season blizzard hits forces Renee to deal with the dangers of both nature and man. Her survival is at stake as she is targeted for violence.