Louise Erdrich is a master storyteller and if you’ve read any of her other novels, I’m sure you know that. Set in the town of Pluto, North Dakota just outside a reservation The Plague of Doves tells the story of a brutal murder and the lynching that followed. In one sense, this is a mystery as the purpose of the narrative is to discover the truth – but it’s not your typical who-done-it story with detectives or private investigators. It's much more complicated than that - in addition to the mystery, the following topics play a part in the narrative in some fashion: stamp collecting, collecting local and oral histories, Catholic schools, evangelical preachers, infidelity, psychiatric institutions, and lesbianism - just to name a few. And they're all important and vital to understanding the story.

The real purpose of this story, I think is the discovery of truth - whether it's in history, in yourself, or in your relationships.

The discovery of truth in this novel is told through the eyes of three narrators – Evelina, Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, and Marne Wold. The main narrator is Evelina and her story begins when she’s about 10 or 11 years old in the 1960's. Her grandfather, Mooshum, tells Evelina and her brother stories of his past (they do this instead of watching TV).

While many of the characters and scenes are funny, Erdrich also writes with depth and feeling about the murders and lynchings. One summer day basketweavers, Asiginak and Holy Track, are out selling their baskets door to door (or farm to farm). Mooshum and his friend Cuthbert Peace are up to no good and are attempting to steal or beg the basketweavers money to buy whiskey and come across a horrifying, brutal murder scene. The four men rescued a baby, milked the desperate cows and decide what to do next. Later, the four men were tracked down by a posse of towns people (who assumed they committed the murders) and hung from an oak tree on Wolde's land - but notice that Mooshum is the one telling the story to his granddaughter Evelina - he survived the lynching. Evelina finds out the truth about that part of the story a few years later - but I'll let you read the book to find out his secret.

There's a lot to take in and keep track of in this excellent book - Family ties and lineage play an important part in this book - as Judge Antone Bazil Coutts says, Nothing that happens - nothing - is not connected by blood. ( )

Terrific book. Grabbed me from the beginning.

-

In 1911, a terrible blood-chilling crime was committed at the edge of the Ojibwe Reservation, east of the predominantly white town of Pluto, ND. As time exerts its indomitable will, families change and grow, and eventually the memory of that time is all but forgotten in the minds of the long since intermarried. But destiny, as much as love and blood, is a powerful force on these stark plains. Soon, the younger generation will be forced to confront the reality that sins of the past still dwell in the hearts of some. ( )

This is a book I will read again, and I have never said that. It was intense and detailed and a gripping story with incredible characters.

This novel details how a small town's residents' lives are entertwined by a family's murder and the lynching of a group of Native Americans who are innocent of the crime.

Loved it. ( )