Always great to read Thomas King.

Thomas King has written another winner with this sixth entry of the DreadfulWater mysteries. I love these books, though it’s not the mystery part that attracts me back to the little town of Chinook; it’s the fantastic characters and wonderful dialogue. Thumps DreadfulWater reminds me of the one-eyed man in the land of the blind. He’s the reluctant, laid-back, retired detective that everyone goes to for help and advice. His humorous inner dialogue with himself is one of my favorite things about his character. The only thing that bothers me at all is his on again, off again relationship with Claire. I want to scream at him to just stay away from her. She just drives me up the wall. The other characters are a nice and entertaining mixture of eccentrics and offbeat friends of Thumps. Their interactions with him and each other are the best things about the mysteries.
I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see more of my favorite character, Moses. But, Cooley Small Elk was in the story enough for me to overlook that omission. I recommend this book and the others in the series for anyone who enjoys a mystery with a good dose of humor.
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This review contains spoilers.

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For those who follow this series and need to know what happened with Freeway: she’s back! That’s the only spoiler I will give, because I love cats and this was the first question I had when the new book arrived. This installment is set in a post-COVID-19 world and mentions it in a reasonable way; it doesn’t go unacknowledged, but it doesn’t go into details about what happened during the pandemic. Good call to avoid too many details that might have been disproven by subsequent events. ( )

Featured in a blog post at https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2020/07/20/chapter-books-whats-good/ (July 20th release)

I won an ARC in a giveaway - I love "Coyote the Trickster" tales (he's so wicked) so I was honored to get to read this early. Two short stories that are for the independent-level young reader BUT grab your toddler and READ IT TO THEM... ** personal note: my copy is a softcover ADVANCE READING COPY... so if this book is actually a hardcover then this would be the PERFECT addition to any children's personal library. (Of course, softcover or even kindle is still good.) ( )