His historical novels include the Nick Revill series, set in Elizabethan London, a Victorian sequence, and a series of Chaucer mysteries, now in in e-books.
This is C.J.Box’s fourth novel to feature Cassie Dewell, ex-policewoman turned private investigator. Set in Montana, but not in the blue-sky spaces associated with that state.
In the far west, Montana butts up against the saw-tooth border of Idaho in a region of mountains and valleys - and continual forest fires. Throughout the action of The Bitterroots, threads of fire run along the tree lines and overhanging smoke stings the throat. It all adds an appropriate note of menace.
Maybe the existence of the real-life Bitterroot Mountains gave C.J.Box not only his title, but also the idea for the feuding family at the heart of the book. From their ominously named Iron Cross cattle ranch, the Kleinsassers have lorded it over this claustrophobic bit of Montana for generations. The local law is in their pocket, along with almost everything else from the school board to small businesses.
Blake Kleinsasser is the only one to have made his escape, to New York. The rest of the family, whether his elderly parents or sister Cheyenne or brothers John Wayne and Rand, resent his success. When Blake returns, he’s accused of raping his own fifteen-year old niece, Cheyenne’s daughter, Franny.
At the beginning it looks like a slam-dunk case. But we all know that slam-dunk cases have a habit of falling apart under investigation. Cassie is hired by Blake’s defence lawyer, Rachel Mitchell. Both women are convinced of his guilt. Rachel just wants to firm up the evidence and convince Blake to plead guilty. He can’t remember anything, having been on a bender at the time of the assault.
The more Cassie digs, the more uncooperative and hostile the local police become. Her encounters with the deeply unpleasant Kleinsassers reinforce her instinct that something is seriously wrong with the case. When she’s arrested and her car, containing evidence, is torched, it is plain that she’s on the edge of uncovering the real story behind Blake’s supposed crime.
A simultaneous plotline involving Cassie’s son Ben and a potential shooting spree at his school is tied to the main action by the end. The conclusion is perhaps wrapped up a little too quickly, with the bad guys mostly thwarted. But there are some tense and enjoyable scenes on the way and the evocation of this remote part of the mid-west will stick in my memory.
