A Nice, Quick Thriller...

VERMILION DRIFT by William Kent Krueger (2010 Atria Books / 305 pp. / hc)
This is the 10th novel from Krueger featuring private investigator Cork O'Connor (a former sheriff), but the first I've read. I'm always weary coming into a series late, but thankfully Krueger gives much back info on O'Connor and for the most part I didn't feel lost for a second.
Still recovering from the murder of his wife, O'Connor is hired to look into threats being made against a mine that the government is planning to store nuclear waste in (the mine is named Vermilion Drift). While checking the mine out, he discovers 6 dead bodies; 5 turn out to have been dead for over 40 years, but one is the body of a woman he had also been hired to locate. The plot thickens when it's discovered two of the corpses have bullets in their heads that came from a gun O'Connor had inherited from his father.
VERMILLION DRIFT is a decent thriller, and a very good mystery. There's plenty of twists and several times the story went where I least expected it. Add a plus for a couple of very suspenseful scenes, as well as a well done ending. Krueger's prose is quick and clean, and also a bit more literary than much of what's found in your standard mainstream thriller.