How well do you think you know your closest friends? Well enough to know if they are capable of murder? This is the exact internal conflict that several main protagonists struggle with in K.A. Cobell’s debut novel, Looking for Smoke.This book follows the cases of two local missing and/or murdered women on the Blackfeet Reservation in Big Sky Country. The mystery unfolds through the perspectives of four teens: the sister of the first missing Indigenous girl, Loren Arnoux; the new girl in town who doesn’t quite fit in due to her bicultural background, Mara Racette; and the two troubled best friends, Eli First Kill and Brody Clark. These teens, except the new girl, Mara, have known each other all their lives, growing up on the reservation together and sharing in each other’s darkest times. Then, suspicions arise when one of their own, Samantha White Tail, is found dead. The teens question their past, what they once thought of as their future, and who is guilty of murder and betrayal among them.This book can be categorized as a young adult murder mystery or thriller. Amazon rates this book for readers 15 years or older. Barnes and Noble states 13-17 years of age. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, through the University of Wisconsin-Madison, indicates the reading level for ages 14-18.The author successfully tells the story through the perspectives of four different characters: Loren Arnoux, Mara Racette, Brody Clark, and Eli First Kill. Each character is well-developed and distinct, with their own self-discoveries and problems. I looked forward to reading each character’s perspective, as presented in its respective section or chapter, as each is noteworthy and authentic. The author successfully blended four character voices to create a cohesive story that avoids confusion for the reader.Some readers may find the pacing of the mystery throughout the beginning and middle of the novel to be slow, with clues about the missing and murdered women scattered amid more character development and relationships. While the mystery unfolds gradually throughout, the ultimate resolution of the mystery at the end of the book may feel rushed for some readers, as it leaves some questions unanswered and a few loose ends.This story is noteworthy because, while the plot and characters are fiction, the issue it brings awareness to, the number of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in the country, is very real. The author states that 84% of Native women have experienced violence, and 56% have experienced sexual violence. In the "Note from the Author" section at the end of the book, the author continues to state that the murder rate of Native women is three times more than that of white women. This story raises awareness of this injustice among the masses and gives typically marginalized people and populations a voice in the contemporary literary canon.Overall, I rate this novel 3/5 stars because I thoroughly enjoyed reading about a real-world issue that I was previously unfamiliar with, the MMIW Movement, as well as the authenticity of the characters. However, like some other readers, I felt that the pacing of the unfolding mystery was slow throughout, and the ultimate resolution of the mystery at the end felt rushed. Overall, I enjoyed this book.If you enjoyed this book and are looking for others like it, I would recommend reading any titles by the young adult mystery author Karen McManus or the mystery series "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" by Holly Jackson. If you are looking for more books about the MMIW Movement and Indigenous voices, I would highly recommend reading Firekeeper's Daughter or Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley.
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