The American Café

January 31, 2011
Insights into present-day Cherokee life and race relations lift Hoklotubbe's folksy second Sadie Walela mystery (after 2003's Deception on All Accounts). Eager to make a fresh start in her native Cherokee country, 36-year-old Sadie buys a restaurant in Liberty, Okla., and renames it the American Café after the cafe that her late great-aunt, whom she resembles, owned during WWII. One day while Sadie is working on the menu, an old woman storms in and threatens Sadie with a sawed-off shotgun, angry that the cafe is about to reopen. Soon after, Sadie learns that the cafe's charming previous owner, Goldie Ray, has been shot to death, apparently by the same lunatic woman. Sadie helps local police officer Lance Smith investigate, but the deeper she delves, the more confused the hunt becomes. A wacky cast of characters complements a plot line that, while familiar, offers its share of twists.

March 1, 2011

Nothing is going well on opening day for new American Cafe owner Sadie Walela (Deception at All Costs); a customer threatens her, and the former proprietor is found dead. VERDICT Great characters and an authentic Native American setting (Oklahoma's Cherokee country) make this second series title a good pick for Tony Hillerman fans.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Ready for a change from the banking career that proved hazardous, 36-year-old Sadie Walela, armed with recipes from her great-aunt Vera, buys a caf' in northeastern Oklahoma, Cherokee territory, from terminally ill Goldie Ray. But initial developments dont bode well for Sadie. First, Goldie is murdered on her back porch. Then mentally unbalanced Pearl Mobley threatens Sadie with a shotgun and hurls a rock through the caf's front window. While Goldies sister, Emma Singer, and Emmas daughter, Rosalee, keep the caf' running, Sadie uncovers discrepancies in the local banks ledgers and works with an old friend, deputy Lance Smith, to uncover an embezzlement scheme and look for Goldies killer, an investigation that reveals long-held family secrets and long-buried hostilities. The sequel to Deception on All Accounts (2003) builds Sadies reputation as an amateur sleuth while continuing to portray the strength of Native American culture and the discrimination its adherents face. Readers will want to follow a budding romantic relationship as well as another career change ahead for Hoklotubbes appealing protagonist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)