A Matter of Malice

Thumps DreadfulWater is about as unlikely a name as you can get for a detective. He's a diabetic ex-officer turned photographer who, as the book opens, isn't sure if he's suddenly single, isn't sure if his car is a complete write-off and isn't sure what's going with his cat - who has decided to move in with a family down the road instead.

It's the fourth in Thomas King's DreadfulWater series - though you don't have to have read the previous three to jump right in. Cold case resurrecting, reality TV show, Malice Aforethought is in town to explore the suicide of the poor little rich girl who took a nose dive off a cliff years ago. Her family has always maintained that the brooding loner from the reserve, now a successful author, was responsible for her death.

When the TV show producer dies off the same cliff, in the same way, things really get interesting.

But before that we get Thumps trudging between a cast of unique characters from Stas Black Weasel, the bearlike Russian mechanic to Archimedes Kousloulas the Greek bookstore owner to Alvera Couteau the diner operator known to hold a grudge. It's a bit of local flair set to distract us from a bit of a plodding story. DreadfulWater does his best “I'm too old for this shit” but by the 20th chapter one can't help but think he doth protest too much. It's formulaic but cozy, and it give King plenty of space to judiciously leave clues for the reader. Pure comfort food.