Trickster’s Point by William Kent Krueger

Cork O’Connor and Jubal Little are out hunting in the frontier that is the Iron Range in the spout corner of Minnesota. Unfortunately, Jubal has an arrow in his chest with all the markings of the equipment used by O’Connor. Jubal doesn’t want to die alone so Cork sits with him for 3 hours while Jubal unloads his failings on Cork.

Now Jubal was an exceptional individual. A charismatic type from the day he and his mom moved to Aurora, MN from Denver. Jubal tries to hide his heritage as half Blackfeet (actual last name is LittleWolf) even though he is growing up on the fringes of a reservation. Jubal becomes the star quarterback who gets a scholarship, is then drafted by the NFL and, after bouncing around a few teams, lands for a successful 10yr stint with the Vikings after which, he is tabbed as a future political star by a powerful family with generational ties to the DC power elite. He serves the good people of Minnesota in the US House and has come back to make a run at the Minnesota governor’s race and things are looking very good. Win this race, then it’s the US Senate and who knows where that might lead.

But it’s the weekend before the election and Jubal rests at the base of a rock monolith (Trickster’s Point), spilling his soul and blood out to his lifelong friend.

No local really believes that Cork fired the fatal arrow at Jubal, but he is all the law has and the press is going ballistic that the first serious Native American politician has been murdered in the hours before his ascension to the governor's mansion.

But Cork is no ordinary friend. A local who is also a veteran of the Chicago PD, former county sheriff, and now a respected PI – and part Ojibwe, Cork conducts his own parallel investigation even while being told to butt out. With each passing question, the author takes O’Connor back to dozens of connections with locals who might want Jubal dead.

Since the 2008 passing of Tony Hillerman, I’ve been on the lookout for authors that weave Native American culture into their mysteries (maybe it's the 6.25% of me that is Cherokee). The Kate Shugat books by Dana Stebennow about native Alaskans are one such series and this series about the Ojibwe in Minnesota looks promising. But, so far, no one has stepped up to the level of the late great Hillerman’s depth of understanding and incorporation of Navajo culture, beliefs, and mysticism as integral components of his books. If you’ve never read Hillerman, well then shame on you.

Kreuger is a new author to the MRB boys. This 2012 book represents the 13^th(!) book in the Cork O’Connor series so I have some catching up to do. And while he won’t get mentioned in the same breath as the original master that was Hillerman, and won't garner the lofty status in my personal power rotation (yet), Kreuger will do nicely.

East Coast Don