Book Review: Wild Indigo

Wild Indigo
by Sandi Ault





About the Book:
from Barnes and Noble

Scenes of the high, dry, glittering landscape are as clean as a sun-bleached bone, and there are thrills galore when Jamaica Wild, BLM officer, is trapped in a flash flood that tears down the canyon walls of an ancient mountain sacred to the tribe. But Ault is no less artful at depicting the marriage customs, funeral rites and religious ceremonies that have drawn Jamaica to this tightly knit world and made her lose her heart to its people.

About the Author:A former journalist and newspaper section editor, Sandi Ault has taught writing for many years, including holding a position at the University of Mexico-Taos.

My Review:

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It is set in a remote area of New Mexico. The story features the customs and traditions of “the People”, pueblo dwelling American Natives. The author does an excellent job bringing the complexities of life among the natives out through her descriptive narrative. Jamaica Wild works for the BLM and is also working on writing a book about the traditions of these people. Her mentor, Mama Santa cannot speak of these traditions but she is showing them to Jamaica as she invites her to participate in their traditions with her and the family. They have “adopted” Jamaica as the wolf woman. Jamaica owns an orphaned wolf named Mountain. The People have a sacred connection with the “Lobos”; this is partly why Jamaica is allowed to associate with them.

The story is a murder mystery and begins in the opening paragraph. Jamaica has been summoned by a frightened young boy to help because the Buffalo have escaped the pen. A man is wandering, dazedly, inside among the Buffalo when they are startled and the man is gored and trampled. The animals escape the pen through a gate that has been left open and Jamaica’s jeep is severely damaged, but she escapes unharmed. Jamaica is implicated in the murder of the trampled man; she is accused of starting the stampede.

The rest of the story follows Jamaica and an FBI agent as they solve the mystery of the murder. The story is fast paced and exciting, involving both the white world and the Native American. After several twists and turns of the plot the mystery is solved. During the climactic scenes of the book Jamaica is directed by her spirit guide and truly becomes one of the people.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this book for me was the difficulty of solving a crime when two sovereign nations are involved. The Native people of America are a separate nation from America; they have their own laws and customs. American officials are also bound to investigate a crime that takes place within American borders, but have to be careful to observe the laws and customs of the people. I found the dance between the two nations to be very complex.
When I was finding information for this book on Barnes and Noble I discovered that this debut novel for Ms. Ault was the first in a series. The main character, Jamaica Wild, continues her adventures in subsequent novels.

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