Shaman's Moon: A Stoner McTavish Mystery

Again Dreher brings us to a place where we discover new worlds and a deep respect and love for our own creative powers and those of the larger realm. Shaman's Moon won the LAMBDA literary award this year for best lesbian mystery and it is a richly deserved honor. Finally, a book is honored that explores more than our sexual side. It must be her work as a clinical psychologist that enhances her compassion and empathy for her characters. This book is several cuts above the rest.

Sarah Dreher is one of the most well-intended authors I have read. Every novel presents us with endearing lesbian role models and situations that promote the healing and empowering of the lesbian psyche. For some, this novel could offend because that very empowerment comes at the expense of Jesus Christ and born-again Christians, but this is intentional and perhaps necessary. The novel's power comes from the splicing of female-friendly psychology and religion onto the campfire ghost story. Maybe Dreher falls short by replacing religious scepticism with shamanistic belief, but there is no godless alternative that's any less a matter of belief as she so well demonstrates in Stoner's inner struggles.