The Red Power Murders by Thomas King

Thomas King's Cherokee ex-Sheriff returns in the second Thumps DreadfulWater mystery. Equally complex and laid-back, this series is ripe for filming.

Thumps left work as Sheriff years ago but is still haunted by the Obsidian Murder Case. Now another name from his past has come to Chinook. Noah Ridge is the charismatic leader of the Red Power activist movement for Indian causes. He has a new book which delves into a deadly robbery twenty-five years ago in Salt Lake City, where three men raided the safe of a CEO for bearer bonds, then holed up in an RPM house. There was a deadly shootout that day—the day Noah's girlfriend Lucy Kettle, a warrior for the RPM, disappeared. Some think she is alive in witness protection, but her friend and Thumps' ex-girlfriend Dakota is sure she is dead. Dakota also returns to the Northern California town, now dating Noah and running RPM. Thumps is a photographer and is asked to take publicity pictures of the book reading—and Sheriff Hockney makes him temporary deputy to help when a man on Ridge's trail ends up murdered. The FBI has never given up on the robbery, and agents continue to watch Ridge in case the stolen bonds resurface. Many RPM activists came from the Chinook reservation, and someone knows the truth about the fiasco in Salt Lake. There were rumors of an FBI mole in the RPM, and all signs point to Lucy—or Noah, who has now disappeared.

Amidst a complex plot, Thumps takes it pretty easy. This is a slow and steady mystery that gets there in the end. Plenty of time to talk about reservation gossip, deal with his cat Freeway, and his temperamental Volvo. Everyone in Chinook has ties to the RPM community - Thumps' girlfriend Claire, pathologist Beth Mooney, Cooley Small Elk - and the trail of old wounds runs deep.

This was another engrossing read from Thomas King. I am surprised the series has not been picked up for streaming. Likeable characters and tense relationships in a solid thriller.

It's thick at 512 pages, but mystery fans will find it breezes along.

2006 / Tradeback / 512 pages