Dakota (Mystery Thriller)
By Gwen Florio
ISBN #978-1579623623
Price $28.00
264 Pages
Rating 5-Stars
“I loved it, and couldn’t put it down!”
After Lola Wicks, a former foreign correspondent, is
downsized from her position, she ends up in Magpie, Montana. Working for a
small newspaper, she covers the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and becomes
romantically involved with the local sheriff. When the body of a young Indian
girl is found in a snow bank a quarter mile from the road, Lola learns that
this isn’t the only missing girl from the reservation, and decides to
investigate.
A semi truck was also discovered several miles from where
the body was found, turned over, and the driver’s neck broken. There is no
indication the two incidents are connected. The trucker’s death may be a
homicide, but it’s believed the young girl died from exposure, though she may
have been hitchhiking home from somewhere, and rode with the trucker to the
junction. But the question remains, why would she leave the safety of the truck
to trek cross-country in blowing snow and 20 degrees below zero. This is
suicide weather, unless it was her only chance of survival to escape a
murderer.
More mystery unravels as an oilfield roughneck passing
through Magpie recognizes the girl’s obituary picture as a prostitute working
the oil patch in North Dakota. Lola senses a story, and requests an assignment
to the “Patch”, 500 miles from Magpie, where many of the local Indian men work.
Trying to find information in an oilfield setting with roughnecks living in an
uncivilized community, and rowdy strip clubs surrounding the thousands of men
working the fields, it’s a scene as primitive as any Lola must have seen
anywhere in her overseas travels. Even the local sheriff and his buddy appear
made of the same cloth. Lola sticks her inquisitive nose in places that could
get her hurt – and does; she might even end up dead like the stripper she
interviewed, her neck broken like the truck driver near Magpie.
This was a fascinating story, with characters that
come alive on the page, as the author describes the locals and their living
conditions. As the story unfolds, we discover how evil the people are behind
the plot, and wonder how our society has become so sick. To make it more real
for me, it took me back to when I spent seven winters in North Dakota on the
Canadian border, with temperatures 45 below zero (chill factor dropping to near
100 below), white outs, 3-day blizzards, and the rules of surviving such
conditions. The moisture in the automobile gas-lines freezing fifty miles from
civilization. No oilfields in sight, but missile silos dotting the landscape
everywhere.
I loved the story, but had a few problems with it.
How, and even why, was the girl even found in the snowdrift a quarter mile from
a road, in blowing snow and 20 degrees below zero? It’s not explained who found
her, why they were out there, and how they even discovered her body. She had
been reported missing several years previously, and no one knew she was out
there. I accepted the fact that she was found, as this instigated the
investigation, but it still left me wondering. The suggestion that Lola would
be charged with murder is curious. She was the victim, kidnapped, beaten,
drugged and held against her will. She had every right to escape, even if that
included grabbing a branding iron and striking her captor over the head;
remember, her captor was holding a gun (no matter who it was aimed at).
However, my main problem concerned the sheriff of Magpie, Montana. The sheriff
would have needed a Federal Warrant just to go to North Dakota to pick up a
prisoner already in custody. Just because he “suspected” a crime being
committed in North Dakota did not give this county sheriff in Montana the
authority to cross state borders to make an arrest. Where does his authority (badge
& gun) end? Nor can he deputize his friend, also from Montana, to carry a
gun and hold a resident of North Dakota in confinement. My guess is the arrest
would be kicked out, the bad guys released, and the Montana sheriff and his
friend arrested and sued for false arrest of North Dakota residents. Lawyers
would have a field day with this case. But technical flows aside, this novel will
keep you turning the page, and you will find Lola Wicks one tough-minded
reporter.
Tom Johnson
Detective Mystery Stories
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