Like the first book this is very much a story about racial heritage, the importance of one’s roots and that vast quagmire of a topic, race relations. Faye has never fitted in and lives on an island by herself in Florida, save when visited by Joe Wolf Mantooth, a Creek Native American and now her assistant. The Sujosa do not exist, but the author has done such a fine job in creating them that they probably ought to, rich cultural heritage and all. This forms the core of the book, and the whodunit is threaded through it so the two run concurrently, as all books with more than one theme should manage to do. Joe is a slightly uneven character as in the first book he seemed rather simple, whereas here he is the Noble Savage so beloved by Victorian writers and makes various profound utterances at variance with his earlier self. Faye remains a chilly person, and despite the serious nature of the book, I found myself wishing for an odd moment of humor to contrast with the air of pessimism. It’s a clever enough tale and curiously seems real, the sort of book to stay in the mind afterwards.