Corona Blue: An Angela Biwaban Mystery

Uneven writing undermines the hardcover debut of Native American sleuth Angela Biwabin, an Anishinabe princess and ex-con on parole, who has a strong penchant for jumping to conclusions. While working on a South Dakota farm as part of the federal Work Experience program, Angie discovers a still-warm, bullet-felled corpse. By the time she gets the police to the site, the body has vanished and she is accused of being drunk on the job. Jailed again, she meets activists opposed to power company plans to erect high-voltage lines nearby. After her release, Angie tries to trace the dead man's identity. She learns about a 30-year-old case in which a little girl was mysteriously abducted, with a clue left in the field where Angie saw the body. A town matriarch, said to have information about the abduction, dies on the same night that an eerie blue corona is seen in the sky. With the help of her Native American grandfather, Angela connects the dead man, the missing girl and the blue aura in a manipulative plot marked by some genuinely exciting scenes and an excessive use of italics. (Nov.)