Lola, a former foreign correspondent, relocates to Magpie, Montana, and starts a relationship with the local sheriff. That relationship, however keeps her from being able to report on police matters for the local newspaper. But when a girl missing from the Indian reservation Magpie is built in is found dead not far from home, Lola doesn't let the technicality of not being on the police beat stop her from trying to get the story.
She believes the girl's death -- and the disappearances of other girls from the reservation -- is related to the oil boom near Burnt Creek, North Dakota, 500 miles away. The oil fields are drawing men from all over the country for the good-paying jobs. The problem is, with no family to go home to, or reign them in, many of the oil field workers have turned the small town of Burnt Creek into a haven for prostitution, sex-trafficking and all kinds of unseemly behavior.
Lola manages to get herself right in the middle of the action after telling her editor she wants to do a story on men from the Indian reservation who travel all that way to work in the oil fields.
Because we're -- I hope! -- nearing the end of a very rough winter here in the northeast I'd also like to mention that the weather in Dakota should be considered a character as well. After working in Kabul and Baltimore Lola is not ready for a brutal Montana and North Dakota winter but she must deal with it the same as she deals with the people who become obstacles on her path to the truth.
Dakota is the second book in the Lola Wicks series and, while waiting for the third, I'll put Montana on my reading list and Gwen Florio on my list of new authors I like.
4 of 5
I received this book from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.