The University of Arizona Press
Deception on All Accounts
Sadie Walela's life is about to be turned upside down.
One morning Sadie unlocks the door at the Mercury Savings Bank and confronts a robber who's been lying in wait for her and her fellow employees. He flees after stealing money and killing her coworker. When a whirlwind of events leaves Sadie herself under suspicion, she sets out to clear her name.
This banker turned sleuth is suddenly plunged into an unfamiliar world in which people are not always as they appear-not her employer, not the homeless man she's befriended, not the police officer who takes an interest in the case, not the man she falls in love with. And, as she's beginning to imagine, not even herself.
Sadie is a blue-eyed Cherokee living in northeastern Oklahoma, a half-blood who finds she sometimes has to adapt to get by in the white man's world, much as her father's ancestors did. In this story of robbery, murder, love, and intrigue, she faces adversity at each bend in the road, but in the tradition of her people she adapts and moves forward—even if it means having to re-think her relationships and expectations.
Set against the backdrop of small-town Oklahoma and its Native culture, Deception on All Accounts draws readers into the real lives of contemporary American Indians as it shines a light on violence, corporate corruption, and prejudice in modern America. As Sadie Walela comes to terms with murder, romance, and her hopes for a career, she finds deception on all accounts.
"One of the best mysteries I have read in a long time . . . The plotting is rich, the main characters interesting and mostly sympathetic, the story gripping, the writing straightforward. . . . This is Ms. Hoklotubbe's first novel and I hope it isn't her last. I highly recommend Deception on All Accounts."—Diana Vickery, Mystery News
"It's a pleasure to make the acquaintance of Sadie Walela, a banker in northeastern Oklahoma who is thrust into the role of amateur sleuth after a spate of branch robberies leaves several colleagues dead and her career in critical condition. . . . Hoklotubbe paints a believable picture of Indian-white relations in small-town America and crafts a series protagonist as savvy as she is sweet."—Booklist
"Evenly paced prose, increasingly suspenseful plotting, and the emergence of a strong heroine characterize this promising first mystery."—Library Journal
"A rich and multi-layered suspense thriller . . . Sadie Walela is a protagonist that we will want to revisit again and again even after we uncover the truth beyond the deception. 'Deception on All Accounts' is a tangled web of intrigue that will grip you from start to finish."—Indian Country Today
"A good page-turning first novel . . . You care about the main characters and want to follow their stories."—Nigel Tappin, Mystery Review
"Draws readers into Cherokee life and Native American culture, offering insight into a world unfamiliar to most readers."—Muskogee Daily
