Ice and Stone

Marcia Muller

Sharon McCone Mystery 35

Grand Central Pub

Aug 10^th, 2021

Ice and Stone by Marcia Muller brings back private investigator Sharon McCone. The plot delves into crimes against Indigenous women and McCone must uncover who is behind the corruption, secrets, and lies. It shows the inhumane treatment and prejudice against these people.

“I found the idea for this story after reading a series of newspaper articles about Native Americans across the US and Canada.  I addressed the issue of how they were mistreated in this book although I made up a fictional town in California.”

The plot starts out with the bodies of two Indigenous women found in the wilderness of Northern California.  PI McCone realizes there have been similar murders and officials have ruled the death isolated incidents, even though the evidence says otherwise. She goes undercover in Meruk County to find the truth and to make sure she is not the next one on the killer’s list.

The author shows how the different jurisdictions are conflicted.  The reservation police handle the problems on the reservation, the local sheriff handles the rest of the town’s crimes, and the FBI covers serial murders. Because they did not work together the investigation has faltered. “I found out through my research that if a crime occurs on a reservation and someone leaves, the tribal police cannot touch them.”

Sharon is written by Muller as “tough, tenacious, self-reliant, empathetic, and fiercely loyal.  She is forceful, determined, smart, caring protective and perceptive.  She seeks the truth and has an oddball sense of humor.”

Readers familiar with the series will welcome appearances by the recurring characters.  It was interesting how the investigation led to certain clues. In her next book, Muller will tackle the pandemic where people are trying to return to normalcy.

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