Red Canoe

One of the Most Anticipated Crime Fiction of 2022--CrimeReads

Buck, government name Michael Fineday, Ojibwe name Miskwa' doden (Red Deer) is on the brink of suicide. He has just been served divorce papers by his wife Naomi, who is fed up with his savior complex and the danger it often attracts to their door. Living on the border of Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community reservation, Buck makes a living as a boatbuilder and carpenter. He spends his days alone, trying to win the trust of a feral cat...until a semi-feral girl shows up, fascinated by the canoe Buck is building.

Lucy, Ojibwe name Gage' bineh, (Everlasting Bird), lives in a trailer alone with her father, a local policeman struggling with PTSD which is compounded by the loss of Lucy's mother. Just barely fifteen she has lived with a lifetime of abuse, while knowing that if she ever spoke out, her father would bear the consequences.

Buck senses Lucy is in trouble and doesn't hesitate to come to her defense. On the foundation of their shared Ojibwe heritage, they trace Lucy's abuse to a ring that extends farther than either of them ever imagined, while building a bond even sturdier than Buck's canoe.

Author: Wayne Johnson
Publisher: Agora Books
Published: 03/01/2022
Pages: 344
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.80w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781951709723


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 03/01/2022 pg. 122
Booklist 03/01/2022 pg. 30
Publishers Weekly 03/21/2022

About the Author
Wayne Johnson is the multiple Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of the acclaimed Paul Two Persons Mysteries DON'T THINK TWICE and SIX CROOKED HIGHWAYS, a thriller, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, and many other works of fiction and nonfiction. Of mixed Native and European descent, he grew up in southern Minneapolis, and in the north lakes region of Minnesota on the White Earth and Red Lake Reservations. He currently resides in Salt Lake City. Find him online at waynejohnsonauthor.com