Death at Rainy Mountain

by Mardi Oakley Medawar

Overview

"Another great storyteller is emerging."-Tony Hillerman

Award-winning authorMardi Oakley Medawar

On a scalding summer day in 1866, the Kiowa Nation gathered at Rainy Mountain to witness the magnificent Cheyenne Robber standing before them-charged with murdering a fellow tribesman. It was a day Tay-bodal would never forget. A day that threatened to tear the unity of the entire Kiowa Nation...

Known as a wanderer and eccentric healer, Tay-bodal was always on the outside of the clan. Now, for the first time in his life, Tay-bodal's unconventional ways will prove invaluable to the survival of the Kiowa Nation. He has just five days to find the truth behind the murder. But Tay-bodal will discover more than truth. He will embark on a journey so spiritual, so important, that he will finally know what it is to be a Kiowa Indian...

"Medawar, a Cherokee, reveals legendaryNative Americans as believable peopleand offers her readers a comprehensive lookat historical Kiowa life and values."-Publishers Weekly

"Her characters, white or Indian, are people...This is our history."-Don Coldsmith, award-winning author of Runestone

"More than a mystery, Medawar's novel is a beautifully written, life-affirming, heartwarming story full of adventure, humor, and tears...a cunningly plotted story that is as devilishlyfunny as it is charmingly told."-ALA Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645401391
Publisher:	Speaking Volumes
Publication date:	11/26/2019
Series:	Tay-Bodal Mystery , #1
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.62(d)

Editorial Reviews

Modern-thinking Kiowa healer Tay-bodal, whose study of anatomy and physiology sets him apart from other tribal doctors in the north of Texas in 1866, is caught up in tribal politics after one of its warriors is murdered. War threatens when handsome Cheyenne Robber, beloved of White Otter, is accused of killing one of her suitors from another clan. Although he had challenged his rival in front of others, Cheyenne Robber swears he didn't kill the man. Chief White Bear, whom the whites call Santana, asks Tay-bodal to help find the true murderer. Breaking tribal tradition, Tay-bodal examines the body of the dead man and discovers that he was strangled and his neck subsequently broken. Recognizing this as a particularly cowardly way to kill, Tay-bodal wonders why any Kiowa would have used it. The healer must break more tribal customs, become a target himself and end up at Fort Sill before he successfully solves the case. Although the pace is slow and her prose often stiff, Medawar, a Cherokee, reveals legendary Native Americans as believable people and offers her readers a comprehensive look at historical Kiowa life and values. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A rough-hewn Native American adventure set amidst the flourishing Kiowa nation during the summer of 1866. Tay-bodal, cranky loner and gifted healer, attends a meeting following the death of the great chief Little Mountain. He thinks the gathering must concern the election of a new leader, but a hideous event has occurred: The nephew of one contender for principal chief has been strangled and the cousin of another—handsome warrior Cheyenne Robber—has been accused of the murder and confined. Tay-bodal has five days to resolve this intertribal dispute and avert a civil war of the sort that has until recently racked the white men. Inspired by the thunderbolt of a love affair with an outspoken widow—Crying Wind, a relative of the accused—he infiltrates opposing camps, performs a primitive postmortem, and escapes a shooting only to be rescued by Union soldiers. This espionage caper culminates in a Kiowa show of force followed by Tay-bodal's denunciation of the murderer to the assembled tribes—all of which makes a nice contrast to Hercule Poirot in the drawing room.

Medawar extracts effective humor and poignancy from Tay- bodal's journey toward the respect of his people. But of all that her hero survives, nothing is more dangerous than the rebellious grammar and uncertain plotting that hamstring this first mystery. The author (a western, People of the Whistling Waters, not reviewed) needs to do homework in something more than Native lore.

Kirkus Reviews