Chelsea Humphrey's Reviews > Winter Counts

"Winter counts were the calendar system used by the Lakota, but they weren't like modern ones. I'd loved the little pictures in the calendars, each image showing the most significant event from the past year.

If you are a lover of slow burning, character driven crime fiction, please halt your scroll and immediately add Winter Counts to your 2020 TBR. I know that time and money are limited resources for many readers these days, but I highly recommend planning ahead and making this book a priority if it is within your realm of reading preferences. As a privileged white woman, I'm always actively seeking out books beyond my personal scope of experience, and it's surprisingly hard to find Indigenous crime fiction written by Indigenous authors! This debut blew my expectations out of the water, and managed to provide an educational experience to readers unfamiliar with Indigenous, and more specifically Lakota, ways, while also throwing out a gripping, heart-pounding plot.

"Back in the time before Columbus, there were only Indians here, no skyscrapers, no automobiles, no streets. Of course, we didn't use the words Indian or Native American then; we were just people. We didn't know we were supposedly drunks or lazy or savages. I wondered what it was like to live without that weight on your shoulders, the weight of the murdered ancestors, the stolen land, the abused children, the burden every Native person carried."

Winter Counts introduces us to Virgil Wounded Horse, a bit of a pariah within the perimeters of his reservation, but also a man with skills that the other residents find necessary. Virgil is the person you call when the American government has failed you; when the FBI chooses not to prosecute those committing rape, abuse, theft, and murder on Indigenous land, you hire Virgil as muscle to deliver the justice you are owed. When word spreads that someone has been selling heroin on the reservation and local teenagers are overdosing, one of the council members hires Virgil to take care of the problem. Teaming up with his ex-girlfriend, Virgil decides to take on the case when the epidemic hits too close to home.

While the mystery behind the drug problem is certainly engaging and entertaining, I found the real beauty of this story is the deep look we get into Virgil and his demons. As a biracial man, he isn't fully accepted into his community, but also isn't awarded the privilege associated with the half of him that is white either. This struggle of finding belonging in a world that had been stacked against him is peppered throughout the criminal investigation, but these personal touches are clearly what makes the story shine bright amongst a sea of mundane mysteries. There are even prejudices within the reservation, classism and elitism and privilege based on your family, and Virgil also deals with past loss, a faith that has failed him, and religion tied into cultural practice and beliefs.

I don't want to give anything away, but the way that this story wrapped up was beautiful and tinged with just the right amount of bittersweet sadness. As I am unsure if this is truly a standalone, or the beginning of a new series, I will say that I would follow Virgil on future adventures if the author so chose to create them. Highly, highly recommended!

*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.