I’ve never been a reader of mystery novels or crime fiction, and I’ve tended to have limited endurance for a book series, until I picked up DreadfulWater, the first of the DreadfulWater Mystery Series by Thomas King. I’ve since gone on to read the second and third books in the series, The Red Power Murders and Cold Skies, and as I write this, I am well immersed in the fourth book, A Matter of Malice.
The series follows Thumps DreadfulWater, a Cherokee, ex-police officer who’s moved from Northern California to the fictional town of Chinook, Montana, as he tries to flee his own mysterious circumstances and heartbreak. DreadfulWater, now a photographer, attempts to keep a low profile living alone with his anti-social cat Freeway and a non committed relationship with Claire Merchant, head of the tribal council of the nearby Reservation. Invariably, and despite Thumps’ resistance, he gets lured back into solving crimes by the town sheriff, Duke Hockley. And yes, Hockley is exactly as you might imagine a small town sheriff, named Duke, in a mystery novel.
King brings together a robust and richly developed collection of Indigenous and non-Indigenous characters. These unlikely personalities living or travelling through Chinook, often bump up against each other with witty and frequently hilarious dialogue. King has a keen ability to place two characters seemingly in dialogue with each other, yet they have two very distinct, parallel conversations. In the banter and jousting that goes on between Coolie Small Elk, elder Moses Blood, and Thumps, I can’t help but hear voices of the characters from CBC radio’s 1990s Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour (also written by Thomas King). I’m frequently laughing out loud as I read–good medicine for our times.
While not pretending to have any expertise in the mystery genre, I will offer that King is a masterful storyteller and is able to blend believable characters with page turning plots. What most draws me to the DreadfulWater series, is King’s ability to artfully weave together a fast paced and witty mystery, in the context of Indigenous land and treaty rights, the history of
residential schools and forced adoption, and the complexities of settler and Indigenous relations including overt and systemic racism. King’s writing, including his many non-fiction books, helps me to deepen my understanding of the impacts of colonialism in North America. I’m excited to see there are still four more books in the series to read!
— Brian Braganza lives on Mi’kma’ki, the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. Along with writing creative nonfiction, Brian is also restoring a 150-year-old barn, is a singer-songwriter, and facilitates personal and social transformation as ways to create beauty and community to counter the grief of our times. www.brianbraganza.ca.
You can read Brian Braganza's story "Relics" in Issue 304 (Summer Creative Nonfiction 2025). Order the issue now:
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