In the Clearing (Tracy Crosswhite, 3)

In The Clearing is the third book in the Tracy Crosswhite series by best-selling award-winning American author, Robert Dugoni. What looks like a straightforward case of battered wife shooting dead her husband takes a turn when there are too many people confessing. While the case is in limbo, Seattle Detective Tracy Crosswhite takes some personal time to review a forty-year-old case as a favour.

Back in November, 1976, seventeen-year-old Kimi Kanasket went missing while walking home from her diner job one evening. Novice cop, Buzz Almond promised her father, an elder of the local Klickitat tribe, that he would find her, but a massive search that night was fruitless. When Kimi's body was found in the White Salmon River, the pathologist ruled it a suicide, but Buzz was apparently unconvinced. His daughter Jenny, the current Sheriff, finds a meticulously detailed file in his desk after he dies.

Tracy examines the file: reports, photos, newspaper articles, and even some receipts; it's clear that Buzz Almond was very thorough. Will the advances in forensic technology over forty years, applied to the evidence Tracy has in front of her, yield a different result?

Tracy calls on the expertise of colleagues: forensic anthropologist, Kelly Rosa, sign cutter Kaylee Wright, and forensic scientist, Michael Melton, as well as an expert in river flow dynamics. She spends time in the town of Stoneridge, checking out the scenes that Buzz deemed important and delving into the newspaper archives. There is mention of tensions between the local first nations people and the white population over the local football team's name and mascot: could this be relevant? Or was her angry ex-boyfriend involved?

What Tracy's experts uncover is truly shocking, but not enough to prosecute a case, so she has to follow up with likely suspects, incurring the wrath of the town's police chief. Tracy's own history legitimises her empathy with some she needs to convince, but will she survive to tell Kimi's father that justice will be done? If nothing else, one aspect of the case points her to the right approach for her stalled Seattle case.

This instalment showcases Tracy's deductive powers, and the advantages that modern technology can provide for a cold case. This time, Dugoni again takes the narrative back and forth in time, gradually revealing what occurred, before giving the reader an exciting climax. More of this smart, gutsy protagonist will be welcome; fans will look forward to the next instalment, The Trapped Girl Riveting crime fiction.