Twice Gone: A Guest Post by Laurie L. Dove

A story of grief, history and heritage, Mask of the Deer Woman is an atmospheric thriller that shines a light on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Read on for author Laurie L. Dove’s exclusive essay on writing her debut novel, Mask of the Deer Woman.

I was an early reader, and that first stunning discovery of worlds within pages continues to inspire me. One interesting outcome of being an avid reader has been the nudge to examine my own life, to question how it came to be this way and why, and to imagine the nearly endless possibilities if my entrance into the world had included a slightly different set of variables. Reading Indigenous literature introduced me to the specific experiences of characters grappling with a generational disconnection from their collective past, and I recognized myself in this complicated uncertainty. I began to think about how a reconnection with my heritage would play out in my own life and, ultimately, I explored this concept in MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN. 

My protagonist, Carrie Starr, is deeply flawed and full of contradictions, and it was her story that first prompted me to deeply research the reality of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Having worked as a journalist for many years, it seemed only right to employ fiction as a vehicle to raise awareness about important issues and when I discovered that murder is the third—third!—leading cause of death for Indigenous women in the United States, I knew that this novel had transformed from a dream to a mission. In addition, there are an estimated 5,500 currently missing Indigenous women. As shocking as these statistics are, the reality is that the numbers are much higher. Many cases are not reported. The jurisdictional issues and gaps in mandatory reporting between federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies continue to complicate matters, making the total number of missing or murdered Indigenous women unknown.

These data tracking issues are compounded by a growing body of evidence that demonstrates that missing or murdered Indigenous women do not draw the same amount or quality of news coverage as their white counterparts. In MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN, this unfortunate reality is something I refer to as “twice gone.” Missing Indigenous women disappear twice: once in real life and once in the news. This concept is so central to the narrative that “twice gone” was the working title of this book.

My hope in anchoring MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN to the real-world issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, will build awareness about this national issue in ways that are both accessible and meaningful. I look forward to exploring more issues important to the Indigenous community through this world and its characters. I’m excited to announce I am currently working on a sequel, and I welcome readers to continue joining me on that journey.