#1 in the Leo Deroches detective series by Edmonton writer Wayne Arthurson. Leo is a complicated protagonist with "challenges" which include his unfamiliar First Nations heritage, his struggle against gambling addiction, his substitutions to fill the void (what they call on the Street, the "flutter"), his shattered family, his unresolved issues with his father. Take these into the big city newspaper where he works and chaos is bound to ensue. Attendance at a crime scene--the body of a young prostitute dumped in a field--leads Leo to do research into similar deaths and to snoop around where he is not welcome, with native elders and Edmonton police officers, active and retired. The story had me hooked; the complex flawed lead character, perhaps I will reserve judgement. I like my good guys to be good. But that's just me. I especially like the Edmonton setting, and the explanations of all the "Canadianisms" for an unfamiliar, likely American, readership.
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