Spirit
Crossing, by William Kent Krueger.
Once again it’s good to meet Cork O’Connor, longtime First Nations investigator and upholder of the law (when he’s not running his burger bar) in beautiful Minnesota, one of the Northern states bordering Canada. Life is pretty much the same as it was in ‘Fox Creek’, except that his beloved daughter Annie has returned from hard charity work in the barrios of Guatemala, bringing Maria, her new partner with her. They are returning for the wedding of Cork and Rainey’s son Stephen; it will be a joyous occasion for them all, except that Annie has a secret
that she doesn’t want to reveal until after the festivities are over – in fact she doesn’t want to disclose anything: she’s just glad to be home once again, in the bosom of her loving family; everything will be revealed eventually anyway, nothing stays secret for long.
Meantime, it’s blueberry-picking season – as we all know
there is nothing more delicious than those heavenly fruits on one’s breakfast
and in pancakes etc, so Cork and his little grandson Waboo (little rabbit) are
on their way to a secret site by a cabin in the woods once owned by an old
Finnish man who used to swap blueberries for other kinds of food (who needs
money when you can use the barter system?).
As Cork thought there is a considerable stash of blueberries, but there
is something else which reveals the fact that little Waboo has a gift for speaking with the dead –
which he does by a mound covered with blueberries. The young Lakota girl dumped in a shallow grave
wants Waboo to tell her how to find The Path of Souls. And it’s not long before the old Finn’s cabin
reveals another terrible secret: another
murdered girl, this time from a prominent white family, and it doesn’t take
long before the huge publicity following the white girl’s death, that Waboo’s
identity is revealed and he has to go into hiding for his life, not only a
victim of publicity but to keep him safe from the murderers of the girls: if he can talk to dead girls, what can he say
about the murderers to police?
Meantime, a huge new oil pipeline is being constructed
through tribal land (‘Drill, baby, drill!’) much to Ojibwe outrage, and furious
protests have ignited hatred all along its route: there is much for Cork and his family to navigate
and try to change even though the class and racism cards are strongly stacked
against them. They have a strong and
faithful ally in William Kent Krueger – long may he record the myriad
injustices – and victories – that First Nations people receive. FIVE STARS.
