Vermilion Drift: A Novel [Paperback]

This is my first Cork O'Connor read - it is the 10th in a series - I'm a little late to the party - so I am reviewing it not in comparison to the others in the series, but as a stand on it's own mystery. Although there were times that I would have liked to have read the earlier books - especially the one before this one,"Heaven's Keep" which is apparently the one where he faces a personal tragedy, leaving Cork almost certainly a different man - I did not feel lost at any time during the read of this story. Author William Kent Krueger does a fine job of filling in details of the past while continually moving this intriguing mystery forward.

So Cork O'Connor,once the Sheriff of Tamarack County,Minnesota is now working on his own as a Private Investigator. He is hired to find the missing sister of a wealthy Iron Mine owner.The sister is a free spirit who often takes off when it pleases her and also is the owner of an Artist Colony at a sprawling estate that has seen some horrible crimes over the decades.The brother who has always taken care of his sister is more than a little worried this time. At the same time, the Department of Energy has decided that the iron mines might just be a good place to store Nuclear Waste. The inhabitants of the county - including Ojibwe Indians that live just outside the mine area - are up in arms. It's bad enough the mining is going on, raping the land, but now Nuclear waste in their back yard as well? Things get pretty heated and some very scary messages are being found that sound like they could be fatal threats to anyone invovled with this would-be disaster to the neighborhood. So Cork is doing double duty now, working on locating Lauren Cavanaugh and investigating the threats as well as providing some protection for the reciepients of them.

The story takes many twists and turns(a mystery lover's delight)as the disappearnce of Lauren has shades of "The Vanishings" - a more then 40 year-old unsolved case that had the county searching for missing Ojibwe girls. Cork, 12 at the time, flashes back on the case that his father as Sheriff worked on back then. But something's missing in his memory and he can't quite make the connection.

Cork is part Ojibwe himself and is also torn between his loyalties and beliefs, and working for the mine owner and the law. Working with the Sheriff's dept, but investigating on his own, his journey becomes a meld of two cultures.We as the reader get to follow him on his path of awakening to find the missing pieces of both the current crime he must solve and his past.

William Kent Krueger has wonderfully incorporated the mystique and culture of the Ojibwe people with dark secrets and a deadly mystery buried deep - both literally and figuratively. To be honest during the first part of the story I was thinking Joe Leaphorn meets Lucas Davenport,but Cork O'Connor is definitely his own man. The further I got into this book, the harder time I had putting it down.

Wonderfully colorful characters,a very likable leading man, detailed descriptions that put me right there in that dark and deep mine,an unpredictable,suspenseful heart pumping mystery(can't tell you how many times I guessed wrong),and a chance to spend some time with the Ojibwe People and learn some of their culture made for one captivating read.

Does it stand on it's own? - You Betcha! - But I know now that I will be spending some more time with Cork O'Conner - just think I have 9 more stories to catch up on!

5 stars for getting me hooked(happily) on another series-
"Migwech", Mr. Krueger.

Enjoy the read.....Laurie

also recommended:Beyond the Great Snow Mountains (Mass Market Paperback)

Former shefiff of Aurora, Minnesota, Cork O'Connor is hired to look for Lauren Cavanaugh by her brother, Max.

Max is the owner of the Great Northern Mining Company. The Vermilion Drift is one of their deepest mines. Now it is being considered as a dumping site for nuclear waste. Since this would have a major effect on the Ojibwe Indian reservation, many of the Native Americans feel that they are being sold out once again and there are heated protests about the possibility of using the mine in that manner.

After meeting with other mine officials, Max asks Cork to look at something in Vermilion One. They enter the mine and find a note spray pained on the wall, "We die, you die."

Since no one saw the person who did the spray painting enter the mine, Cork believes that there must be a second enterance. While he is searching for this, deep in the mine, he finds a room with six bodies. Five of the bodies have been there for many years but one has recently been placed there. This reminds Cork of The Vanishings.

In 1964, when Cork was a young teenager, two native American teenage girls vanished. Then a rich white woman also disappeared, this was Monique Cavanaugh, Lauren and Max's mother.

In a story deep with Indian folk lore, Cork speaks to his ancient friend, Henry Meloux. Despite advanced age, Henry is a wise man and can sense things. He tells Cork that he knows that things are stirred up on the res and tells Cork who to speak to in order to identify the other two bodies found in the mine.

It is interesting that Cork's father was the sheriff in Aurora when these events were happening and Cork faces a moral dilemma in considering if his father could have been involved.

As always with William Kent Krueger, there are details about the Ojibwe culture and beliefs. Cork is a well described and likable character who the reader will want to succeed in his quest. The story is told as if was pieces of a menu that is eventually laid out for the reader to learn and be entertained by the realistic and dramatic detail.

Very enjoyable story and would have been a five star but for some of the questions in the plot that were too conveniently answered.

Mining heir Max Cavanagh hires Tamarack County, Minnesota private investigator Cork O'Connor to find his missing sister, Lauren. She established an artists' retreat so Cork starts there. He also looks into who is threatening people involved in the Cavanagh Vermilion One mine that U.S. Department of Energy evaluates as a potential nuclear waste storage site.

Cork and a mine official descend into the Vermilion One mine where they find five skeletons and a fresh corpse. The quintet is probably the remains of the 1964 "the Vanishings" that Cork's father Liam as county sheriff unsuccessfully investigated. The sixth body buried in the mine for about a week is that of a well-dressed woman, who Cork assumes is Lauren.

The tenth Cork Minnesota investigative thriller (see Red Knife and Heaven's Keep) is a terrific whodunit as a homicidal cold case of the hero's father merges with a present day murder. The whodunit is well written hooking the readers early on with trying to find the connection between the deaths over four decades apart. With a bit of Native American mysticism enhancing the plot, fans will appreciate this strong regional mystery.

Harriet Klausner

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