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. As she faces adversity at each bend in the road, she adapts and moves forward, much as her father's ancestors did. But as she comes to term with murder, romance, and her hopes for a career, Sadie finds deception on all accounts.
“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
“Draws readers into Cherokee life and Native American culture, offering insight into a world unfamiliar to most readers.”—Muskogee Daily
“A dandy mystery novel. Don’t miss it.”—Tony Hillerman
“A well-plotted story with excellent characters and pacing, making for a very enjoyable read. An auspicious debut.” —Sally Powers, I Love a Mystery Newsletter
“One of the best mysteries I have read in a long time . . . 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
“A good page-turning first novel . . . You care about the main characters and want to follow their stories.”—Nigel Tappin, Mystery Review
