Blood Sisters

Starred review from July 1, 2023

Syd Walker is an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, working on Narragansett land in Rhode Island, trying to protect the land's Indigenous past. But she can't leave behind her own past in Oklahoma and the night 15 years earlier that scarred her. She still feels as if she failed to protect her friend and sister from two men in devil masks who showed up to kill her friend Luna and her parents. Now Syd is called home to Oklahoma, away from her marriage and life with her wife. A skull has been found in a tree, and Syd's sister Emma Lou has disappeared. The last time Syd saw her, she was on drugs. Now Syd is afraid that she's another Indigenous woman who has gone missing. Angry and scared, Syd is on a one-person crusade to find her sister, but there are powerful forces in the small community who don't want Syd to succeed. VERDICT The author of Little Voices combines Cherokee history and legend with contemporary drug and land problems in a gripping story of missing Indigenous women. Readers looking for LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit characters will hope for more about Syd Walker.--Lesa Holstine

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July 28, 2023
It's 2008, and Syd Walker is living in Rhode Island with her wife, working as an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But part of her is in Picher, Oklahoma, where she and her sister were attacked as children. Syd and Emma Lou survived, but their best friend, Luna, didn't make it. Fate brings Syd, who is Cherokee, home for a BIA assignment; she's asked to investigate bones that may have belonged to missing Native girls. There's one other complication: Emma Lou has vanished as well. The influential Daweson family--including the two men who attacked the girls--holds the key to Emma Lou's whereabouts; they're in every corner of the town, including on the Native land they stole. Syd must unravel the tangled threads of her sister's whereabouts while dodging threats from villains everywhere. Lillie paints the beautiful yet bleak landscape with a fine brush. Readers who enjoy strong voices will be pulled in by the characters, while those who are drawn to setting will feel as if they are in Picher.

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October 9, 2023
In this excellent series launch from Lillie (For the Best), Cherokee archaeologist Syd Walker investigates the disappearances of several Native American women. Syd works for the Rhode Island branch of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency hoping to rehabilitate its image and establish trust with Indigenous communities despite its original mission to “exterminate Native people, culture, and ways of life.” When Syd’s old BIA ID badge from a college internship is found inside a skull on BIA-managed land near her Oklahoma hometown, dark memories resurface: 15 years earlier, two men wearing devil masks killed Syd’s best friend, Luna Myers, and Luna’s family. Syd narrowly escaped the tragedy. Guilt-ridden and haunted by Luna’s ghost, who regularly speaks to her, Syd hasn’t returned home since. The badge discovery draws her back, and upon her return, Syd learns that her sister Emma Lou, an opiate addict, has vanished, one of many Indigenous women to have recently disappeared from the area. Reassigned to the Oklahoma branch of the BIA by her boss, Syd begins to investigate the women’s disappearances, hoping her inquiry might finally bring her face-to-face with Luna’s killer. Lillie does an excellent job of balancing a riveting plot with a moving portrait of her troubled lead. Charles Todd fans will want to check this out. Agent: Jamie Carr, the Book Group.