The Joining of Dingo Radish by Rob Harasymchuk

Kerrie Smith at the Mysteries in Paradise blog has launched the Alphabet in Crime Fiction - a Community Meme in which paricipants post a blog each week on a letter of the alphabet. I have started late on the alphabet with G. This week I am posting a Saskatchewan mystery for H. 

32. - 347.)  The Joining of Dingo Radish by Rob Harasymchuk – A Saskatchewan mystery thriller featuring Dingonaslav Marion Radashonovich. Dingo, his mentally challenged brother Pitch and promiscuous sister Marty live in Bennington Falls. They are far on the wrong side of the tracks in the small town of about 1,000. With parents gone Marty works at the local hotel and Dingo supports the family from his labouring job at the local private farm supply centre. To supplement his income Dingo has been a thief from other supply centres. Dingo is too hard to be a likeable rogue but he is charming. To finish financing their escape from town Dingo hatches a major scheme involving Steigman Biotechnologies, a major pesticide / herbicide company in Saskatoon. As he plots he encounters Emily Todd, a radical environmentalist. The action heats up and the body count is huge. I found the characterization of the small town excessively negative. As the killings pile up I found myself thinking this is not credible in Saskatchewan. Really the issue was any thriller filled with bodies is probably not credible to the people who live in the area. The plot is well done and would have been plausible to me had there been fewer deaths. The voices of the characters are Saskatchewan voices. Harasymchuk has actually created a Hollywood thriller set in Saskatchewan. I would not have thought it possible to find such believable villains in our province. Great Saskatchewan cover. Paperback because it was too incredible. (July 10/06)