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A review by mnboyer
In the Clearing by Robert Dugoni
5.0
Tracy Crosswhite is a detective from Seattle who enjoys working with lesser-staffed departments to solve cold cases. This interest likely comes from having spent years trying to solve her sister's murder (see [b:My Sister's Grave|22341263|My Sister's Grave (Tracy Crosswhite, #1)|Robert Dugoni|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405267054s/22341263.jpg|41739579] if you're inclined to start with book one in this series, although it is not required in order to fall in love with this book).
Klickitat County, Washington, 1976. A young Native American high school student named Kimi leaves work and begins walking home to her parent's house on the Yakima reservation. She never makes it home. After a brief investigation, Kimi's body is found in the river and the local coroner lists the cause of death as an apparent suicide. Kimi's family doesn't believe this is the case, and a rookie cop named Buzz also begins investigating. As you can imagine with small towns, the case goes cold.
Unfortunately, Kimi's brother sums it up pretty well:
"What? What are you going to do? Arrest someone? They didn't arrest anyone then, and they haven't arrested anyone in forty years. They. . . didn't. . . care. Kimi was just another dead Indian" (p112).
But Buzz Almond cared and now Tracy Crosswhite cares. Tracy retraces old case notes, talks to witnesses, and eventually unravels the entire story. As you can imagine, it is a harrowing story in which four small town football stars are implicated in the murder. The story plays out that Kimi's death was an accident, and that one of the boys was going to call the authorities. Of course, his big-shot father steps in, forces everyone to secrecy, and a cover up begins.
For those used to Dugoni's work, you know that he usually offers a 'current' murder investigation to parallel our cold case. I find this unique, and I appreciate being able to read two different investigations at once. The similarities often help you determine the identity of the killer, but that makes the reading all the more fun.
Seattle, Washington, 2016. A recent murder investigation is underway. In the midst of a divorce, Angela's allegedly abusive husband enters her residence. In a rage, he attacks Angela and her son. She shoots him in self defense. At least...this is what Angela says and is what her attorney (her father, as it were) reiterates to detectives. As the plot thickens we find out that the son has been coached to give certain testimony, that his fingerprints are all over the scene in places they shouldn't be, and that fingerprints have been wiped clean in places they should be. Now, before you immediately assume the attorney-father is involved in this contemporary cover up...go ahead and turn the pages to see if your assumption is correct.
Overall, a very exciting read. I appreciated the inclusion of a Native American character. I will gripe a bit that it tends to be a cliche (Native American character is killed; small town covers it up; years later a 'white savior figure' arrives and cracks the case wide open; Native American family can now put the spirit to rest; usually one of the elders dies after the murder is solved). Okay--that cliche being mentioned doesn't mean that it does not make for entertaining reading. It is just something I think readers should be aware of, should be able to notice, and should think about a little bit when reading mystery novels. I think Dugoni does a good job of not making Tracy "too perfect" as a detective and that helps balance the cliche with reality a bit.
I picked up the first book in this series on a whim and instantly have hooked myself into this series. Really fun stories, well-rounded characters (I even like the secondary characters!), and a lot of mystery. There's also a tiny love thing happening between Tracy and Dan... I don't need that in my mystery/crime novels but I find it very effective here.
Can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series!
Klickitat County, Washington, 1976. A young Native American high school student named Kimi leaves work and begins walking home to her parent's house on the Yakima reservation. She never makes it home. After a brief investigation, Kimi's body is found in the river and the local coroner lists the cause of death as an apparent suicide. Kimi's family doesn't believe this is the case, and a rookie cop named Buzz also begins investigating. As you can imagine with small towns, the case goes cold.
Unfortunately, Kimi's brother sums it up pretty well:
"What? What are you going to do? Arrest someone? They didn't arrest anyone then, and they haven't arrested anyone in forty years. They. . . didn't. . . care. Kimi was just another dead Indian" (p112).
But Buzz Almond cared and now Tracy Crosswhite cares. Tracy retraces old case notes, talks to witnesses, and eventually unravels the entire story. As you can imagine, it is a harrowing story in which four small town football stars are implicated in the murder. The story plays out that Kimi's death was an accident, and that one of the boys was going to call the authorities. Of course, his big-shot father steps in, forces everyone to secrecy, and a cover up begins.
For those used to Dugoni's work, you know that he usually offers a 'current' murder investigation to parallel our cold case. I find this unique, and I appreciate being able to read two different investigations at once. The similarities often help you determine the identity of the killer, but that makes the reading all the more fun.
Seattle, Washington, 2016. A recent murder investigation is underway. In the midst of a divorce, Angela's allegedly abusive husband enters her residence. In a rage, he attacks Angela and her son. She shoots him in self defense. At least...this is what Angela says and is what her attorney (her father, as it were) reiterates to detectives. As the plot thickens we find out that the son has been coached to give certain testimony, that his fingerprints are all over the scene in places they shouldn't be, and that fingerprints have been wiped clean in places they should be. Now, before you immediately assume the attorney-father is involved in this contemporary cover up...go ahead and turn the pages to see if your assumption is correct.
Overall, a very exciting read. I appreciated the inclusion of a Native American character. I will gripe a bit that it tends to be a cliche (Native American character is killed; small town covers it up; years later a 'white savior figure' arrives and cracks the case wide open; Native American family can now put the spirit to rest; usually one of the elders dies after the murder is solved). Okay--that cliche being mentioned doesn't mean that it does not make for entertaining reading. It is just something I think readers should be aware of, should be able to notice, and should think about a little bit when reading mystery novels. I think Dugoni does a good job of not making Tracy "too perfect" as a detective and that helps balance the cliche with reality a bit.
I picked up the first book in this series on a whim and instantly have hooked myself into this series. Really fun stories, well-rounded characters (I even like the secondary characters!), and a lot of mystery. There's also a tiny love thing happening between Tracy and Dan... I don't need that in my mystery/crime novels but I find it very effective here.
Can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series!