Dance of the Thunder Dogs
Anna Turnipseed and Emmett Quanah Parker series, No. 5
By Kirk Mitchell

     Kirk Mitchell’s latest mystery follows closely behind the last installment in this series, “Sky Woman Falling.” On medical leave after being injured in the line of duty, Bureau of Indian Affairs Criminal Investigator Emmett Quanah Parker goes home to Oklahoma to rest, but soon lands in a nest of emotional and political rattlesnakes. Estranged from his partner, FBI Special Agent Anna Turnipseed, Parker is adrift and finds himself hooked up with the blond, non-Indian heartthrob of his boarding school days, all grown up now and deputy chief of staff to the President of the United States. Not only does his head spin with her attentions, but Parker is soon embroiled in the perennial land payment conflict with the federal government and suspected BIA corruption in the oil reimbursements. Parker also is targeted as a suspect in the murder of another childhood friend and finds himself on the lam, avoiding capture by fellow law enforcement officers.

    Dance of the Thunder Dogs shows the reader an insider’s view of the Comanche way of life, as well as details of the long-standing disputes with the federal government. Mitchell also relates the history of the Comanches in Oklahoma and a number of tribal stories that have been passed down through the generations.

    Though the interior Parker, his tribal roots, and the mess he gets himself into are interesting, Anna Turnipseed’s absence shows. The tension between the two law enforcement officers creates something quite special in the mystery genre. It hearkens to the tension between Muldar and Scully of X-Files, except Parker and Turnipseed are older and both have troubled pasts.

     Dance of the Thunder Dogs is a good read, and it made me wonder what Kirk Mitchell has in store in the future for his law enforcement team.