The Ft. Larned Incident

A Tay-Bodal Mystery #4

by Mardi Oakley Medawar

In 1868, following the signing of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, things are not going well for the Kiowa. Their promised lands went to another tribe, their promised goods have not arrived, and the bored and tense warriors are becoming more and more unruly. When the Indian agent once again fails to live up to his promises, he is run off by the Kiowa and the agent's assistant sends them off to Ft. Larned to receive their annuities.

All the while, Tay-bodal - a healer and member of the Rattle Band - is enduring a personal crisis. A fight with his wife has escalated to the point where he has moved out, his wife is seen with a very eligible bachelor, and divorce seems inevitable. Tay-bodal is therefore not in the best frame of mind he is called upon to investigate a murder amongst the bands. Three Elks, a fond acquaintance of Tay-bodal and son of another chief, has been murdered. The one accused of killing him is a member of the Rattle Band. To make matters worse, the is the same man who has been plotting to steal Tay-bodal's wife. Now, if Tay-bodal cannot put aside his own dislike and prove that the accused innocent - and quickly - then there will be war between the bands, tearing apart what remains of the Kiowa nation.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Native American, Historical Mystery

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2000

About the author

Medawar, a North Carolina Cherokee born in Olla, Louisiana, is an award-winning author, artist, lecturer, and historian. She is a member of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, Western Writers, and Sisters In Crime. Among her writings is a mystery series featuring Tay-bodal, a late 19th century Kiowa healer. Medawar attended San Diego State University, and has taught writing at several schools and programs. Medawar currently lives and works on the Red Cliff Chippewa Reservation in Northern Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed this series featuring a Kiowa medicine man detective.
Kiowa one of my favorite tribes to read about.
(Way back when, searching for owl totem info, I came upon what I call my Kiowa Karma. An owl will come back spiritually to become a Medicine Man, and the Shaman will return as a Cricket. Can a librarian claim medicine man status? Remember reading article that advised medical reference librarians to have malpractice insurance.)
Allegedly the Kiowa had the highest kill rate per warrior of any tribe on cavalry soldiers.
Probably best to read series in sequence.
Did not finish all the Medawar books I started, but this amusing series worth exploring.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so sorry to finish this book as it is the last of the Tay-Bodal series. I have grown to love the characters, who the author says, were real people. They certainly became real to me. I am really happy to have discovered thus series.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series so much. Mardi Oakley Medawar has a real gift for making the past seem real. I looked up from my book and it was a real surprise to find myself in my room and not in a Tipi out on the plains. And she can still make me laugh despite the fact I have read these books many times.

The Ft. Larned Incident has an interesting structure, with part of the story taking place about fifty years after the murder of Three Elks. The author was clearly signing off, letting us know what happened to the main characters after their world was destroyed, in the years following the main event of this book. It was a brave decision to have the main character not actually solve the crime correctly the first time round either.

One of the highlights for me, if I am honest, is trying to spot the basis for some of the incidents she uses from volumes like Bad Medicine and Good: Tales of the Kiowas. For example, the story of how Taybodal healed Little War as described in the second book of the series seems to be based on one in this book. I wonder what the historical Tay-bodal was really like. And any book with Big Tree in it is likely to get the thumbs up from me as he is one of my favourite historical figures.

Reading the four books of the series in a row I picked up on various continuity errors - examples include the number of wives and children that Skywalker had, and the languages some of the characters speak; Tay-bodal suddenly knows Arapaho in the later books and Billy Kiowa, and also the the spellings used when describing the Kiowa class system changes from book to book. But this series is so good, who cares? The author does not seem to have published anything since this novel was written, plus she does seem to have been concluding the series, as I mentioned earlier, so it will probably never happen, but I am struggling to think of a book that I would want to read more than a fifth Tay-bodal novel.

Except maybe a sixth, and a seventh...

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am extraordinarily sad that this is the last Tay-Bodal mystery. I loved reading about the history from the native Indian point of view. The sense of humour that Medawar was able to infuse into the story was perfect.
This was my favorite of the four books in the series, I loved the modern portion of the story and the humanity of the mystery.

[Cws]

M Med