B.L. Blanchard

An interesting alternate history murder mystery set in a non-colonized North America. The protagonist, Chibenachi, is a peacekeeper (cop) in the small town of Baawitigong. The mystery centers on the murder of his mother 20 years earlier, when he and his sister were still children, and a possibly related murder of his mother’s best friend 20 years to the day later. The murder plot was pretty standard and I figured out the murderer very early in the story, but I nevertheless remained invested in the strong world-building involving an alternate system of both legal and social justice.… (more)

Blazingly creative, deeply moving

In a small port town in a modern-day, never-colonized Ashinaabe nation, two murders rip apart two families, revealing rot at the core. Family secrets and redemption are tired tropes in mystery novels and when I'm looking for something to read and see a book blurbed that way, I tend to roll my eyes and move on. That would be a real mistake with this one.

In Blanchard's hands, there's nothing trite, superficial, or syrupy about it. The ethical choices that Chibenashi faces are complex, the waters of his reasoning muddied by shame, love, conflicting duties, and guilt. The very term "Peacekeeper", both Chibenashi's job and his role in the family, assumes layered and conflicting meanings over time. And the redemption he strives for offers hope of rebirth and renewal to the reader as well. It is this, not the question of whodunit, that makes the book a page-turner.… (more)