Book review: ‘Bough Cutter’ by Jeff Nania

By LARRY BALLWAHN | Wilton

John Cabrelli was the appointed sheriff of Namekagon County, which consisted of over 1,300 square miles of primarily forests and lakes with lots of tourist appeal. He and Len Bork, police chief of Musky Falls, often worked together to expand the reach of their departments. They also worked with the two game wardens assigned to the county. It was a warden who contacted the sheriff regarding the body in the Cadillac SUV. John’s quick take on the situation was that it was drug related, although it presented as a suicide.

Drug gangs had moved into the county and seemed to be fighting over the territory. One was Milwaukee based, and one came down from the Twin Cities. But some of the activity seemed a little too sophisticated for drug gang work; maybe there was a third group, the eastern Europeans who had originally worked out of Superior. The Europeans were the ones who tended to leave a message making it clear to get out or get dead.

As Cabrelli suspected, the SUV death was not a suicide. Dr. Chali’’s autopsy verified that. Devon Martin, the victim, was one of Deacon Gunther’s distributors. But what about the drugs and money that had been left in the car? That’s not what rival gangs did. 

Cabrelli soon had another puzzle. A double-wide meth lab blew up, or more accurately, was blown up. C-4 and a timer left little doubt that rivals were not going to tolerate Gunther’s operation in Namekagon County. There had been two men inside, and they had been turned to toast. It was looking more and more like the Middle Europeans were involved, since Molotov cocktails were more in line with typical drug gang confrontations. Use of a timer required knowledge and skill beyond what most local drug operations displayed.

Cabrelli’s significant other, Julie Carlson, was a teacher of at-risk students. Amber Lockridge fit that category primarily because she took care of her addicted mother. Frequently she, or she and her mother, spent time with Amber’s grandparents, Ed, and Stella. Ed was the only father figure in Amber’s life. Ed and Stella were regular volunteers at Julie’s school, and Julie and the grandparents were a constant in Amber’s life. Cabrelli’s law enforcement demands required only a little more time than Julie’s commitment to the school and her students. Amber’s mother, Crystal, because of her addiction, was involved with the drug world where the murders were taking place. That made her a person of interest to Cabrelli. Julie didn’t like that since what she wanted was for Crystal to settle into a mother’s role for her student.

Drug people killing drug people were usually not a high priority, but two things made this different; drugs were now a problem this far north and there were simply too many murders that were unsolved. Who could you count on if not the local police? Cabrelli was aware of the local unhappiness, and he was using outside resources, but he was going to have to work this out while figuring a way to make his relationship work.

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