Book Description
for Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Four Blackfeet teens—Loren, Mara, Eli, and Brody—relate their versions of events following the murder of their friend, Samantha, during an Indian Days ceremony. The community was already on edge because of the disappearance of Loren’s sister, Rayanne, a few weeks prior. When Rayanne’s body is found after Samantha’s death, it’s clear that the two murders are connected. Mara, new to the reservation, befriends Loren and helps her investigate the crimes. They’re unsure whether they can trust Eli and Brody, the other two teens who’d been in a group photo with Samantha just prior to her death. While the detectives on the case suspect drugs were involved, Loren is doubtful; Rayanne saw their mother’s life destroyed by addiction. Texts on Rayanne’s phone suggest she’d been romantically involved with Eli, who is devoted to caring for his younger sister and is keeping a major family secret of his own. And when Brody’s older brother Jason becomes a suspect in the case, Brody puts his own future at risk to help prove Jason’s innocence. Interspersed among the four teens’ timestamped narratives are short chapters by an unknown narrator who is intensely interested in the case. All of the main players in this intriguing crime thriller are well developed and credible; their narratives reveal their strengths as well as the struggles they face as individuals and as part of a community that is deeply affected by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis.
CCBC Choices 2025. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison, 2025. Used with permission.