The Red Power Murders: A DreadfulWater Mystery

Michael Payne is the City of Edmonton archivist and the co-author of A
Narrative History of Fort Dunvegan.

In 2002, a writer named Hartley Goodweather arrived on the Canadian
mystery scene. It was soon revealed that the author of DreadfulWater
Shows Up was none other than Thomas King, one of North America’s most
renowned Aboriginal writers.

King’s second DreadfulWater mystery has all of the virtues of its
predecessor: a funny and engaging protagonist (Thumps DreadfulWater),
sharply defined secondary characters, and plausible plotting and
dialogue. Like the first book, The Red Power Murders is set in Chinook,
a small American city located at the northern end of what Americans call
the Rocky Mountain West. The story revolves around key figures who were
involved in the early history of the American Red Power movement: Noah
Ridge, a charismatic and self-serving leader of an offshoot of the
American Indian Movement; Dakota Miles, Ridge’s long-serving
assistant; and Lucy Kettle, Ridge’s now-vanished rival.

The plot is set in motion by Ridge’s suggestion in a book he wrote
that Kettle was an FBI mole who sought to undermine the movement during
its formative years. Ridge’s arrival in Chinook to promote his book is
followed by events—including the murder of an ex-FBI agent—that rock
the normally sleepy community. The local sheriff enlists the help of
Thumps DreadfulWater, an ex-cop turned freelance photographer who
hovered on the fringes of the Red Power movement and had a strong
personal connection to all of the main characters in the story. The
deeply satisfying mystery that follows is informed by the author’s wry
and thoughtful observations of social, political, and cultural mores.