This book has been on my list for a while now. It's a book written by and about an indigenous asexual. That alone puts it in a class all by itself, I can't think of any other books about an indigenous asexual, let alone by one. (Although if I'm wrong please do correct me as I'd like to read it.)
The book opens with Ellie (full name: Elatsoe) playing fetch with her ghost dog. Her family has the knowledge of how to communicate with ghosts and can call them back. However when Ellie's cousin Trevor dies, she comes face to face with the rule that no human ghosts can be brought back as human ghosts are violent and not themselves as they were in life. When Trevor dies, Ellie receives a message from him saying that he was murdered and that she has to protect his wife and child. The book then turns into a murder mystery as Ellie and her best friend Jay try to hunt down and prove that the killer did it.
On the way, they discover that the murder is a prominent doctor in a nearby town who is close with vampires in the area. On the night that the murderer is set to hold a fancy gathering for the town, Trevor's son wakes his ghost up. Trevor's ghost heads to the party as well to wreck his vengeance on the town. Ellie and Jay and company have to get there and stop him, plus prove that the doctor killed Trevor.
The coolest part of the book is the world. It's more or less an alternate reality where magic is a fundamental part of life. Having ghost dogs is still uncommon, but Jay is a child of Oberon (the fairy king from "A Midsummer Night's Dream") and can create light. Vampires exist and have entire industries around providing them with artificial blood. There's a branch of government for regulating the magic. It's really cool how she integrates it into contemporary society.
And then there's the dogs. Ellie's whole family is really into having dogs, there are plenty of legends about her Six-Great-Grandmother and her protective pack of ghost dogs. Dogs and their loyalty factor heavily into the book, and as a fellow dog lover, that resonated quite strongly with me.
Ok so the asexual things, what's nice about this book is that the fact that Ellie is asexual is dropped so casually into the book. There's some references to how she doesn't date and doesn't understand romantic relationships, but the word "asexual" is actually used about halfway though. It's great that we can have books like this that don't have to explain fully what asexuality is and can have a character just exist as asexual.
And the indigenous aspect is wonderful. The book is steeped in Lipan Apache culture, most explicitly in the funeral rites for Trevor. Details like how people can't know the location of the body and things like that become plot points in the mystery. There's also plenty of stories about Six-Great-Grandmother that get into how the indigenous tribes were forced off of their land. There's even a curse that Ellie's mother puts on a vampire saying that he is not welcome on their land. It positions indigenous people as a kind of superhero while on their land, which is quite cool.
I adored this book, and I remember reading a while back that Darcie Little Badger has another book out now! I hope that I can get my hands on it soon.
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