Cork is not sure where he stands on the issue, but for him the first order of business is a tour of Vermillion Drift. Not a great fan of caves or mines, Cork swallows his inhibitions and follows his guide through the defunct mine. It has been explained to him that as portions of the mine were stripped of the ore, passages were closed off. Cork notices one such passage that has been sealed off with wood that might have been disturbed recently. He removes the impediments easily enough and works his way into a room that contains human remains. There are six corpses in all in various stages of decay, from skeletons to one body that appears to have died quite recently.

The sheriff’s office is informed and an autopsy is done on the most recent victim. This victim apparently died from gunshot wounds and appears to be a well known woman from the area. Since the other bodies are much older, records of people who have gone missing in the area in the past are examined. It appears that these skeletons may be those of young women who disappeared in the early to mid 1960’s.

Since Cork’s father was the Sheriff for Tamarack County at this time, Cork is drawn into an investigation of his father’s tenure as sheriff, a time that recalls memories for Cork not all of which are good.

Vermillion Drift is at once a mystery novel, a novel examining family dynamics, and a story of how a small community deals with crises. As in other novels by Krueger, the culture of the Ojibwe is integral to the plot. The mystical relationship that Cork’s Ojibwe friends and relatives have with their powers that be gives a surreal quality to portions of the narrative. Cork, as a product of two cultures, is pulled in two different directions trying to make sense of the recent and not so recent events of his life. Krueger gives his readers an in depth look at the psyche of his main protagonist in this latest entry in the series.

The author is a master of description especially of his characters. Those who are long time readers of the series could be bored if Mr. Krueger were less skilled in his presentation. Instead of a straightforward physical description of his protagonist, he describes lesser characters in terms of Cork. To wit, Haddad “was Cork’s height, missing six feet by an inch, with thin gray-brown hair… “ Thus new readers learn a little about this main protagonist while those that are well familiar with the man are not lulled to sleep by a patent description.

Because the Vermillion Drift plays an important role in the story, readers are treated to a condensed version of how iron is mined, and how iron mines differ from, say, coal mines. As the author points out in his acknowledgements, the Vermillion Mine of the title exists only in his imagination. However the basic structure of the mine, and how it operated is similar to mines that really do exist thus the general facts of this type of mining are accurate. Those that skipped Introduction to Geology in college can remedy some of the deficits in their education in the mini lessons given herein.

While I quite enjoyed the interaction of Cork with the old Ojibwe Henry Meloux, the psychological analysis of Cork’s problems by his friend Faith were too extreme for my taste. That is not to say the scenes were poorly written, there was just more information about Cork’s mind’s inner working than I am interested in learning. In Vermillion Drift as in all of his previous novel , Krueger demonstrates marvelous command of the English language. He plants images in his readers’ minds that enhance the enjoyment of the novel For instance, Hattie Stillday, an elderly Ojibwe woman, as described by the author in recalling events of her life. She “let out a trickle of smoke that climbed her cheek where it met a little stream on tears.” In just a few words, the impact of some pretty bad stuff that has happened to this woman are artfully conveyed.

With so many novels centering on Cork O’Connor, one might expect a bit of tedium or repetition, but Krueger has penned yet another masterful novel that really transcends the mystery genre. Both old friends of the series and newcomers will appreciate both the story and the way it is told.

--Andy Plonka