The Red Chesterfield
Canadian | CBC Books | | Posted: July 23, 2019 8:47 PM | Last Updated: July 9, 2020
Wayne Arthurson
M is a bylaw officer, living with two brothers, in their parents' old house. While investigating a suspicious yard sale, M discovers a red chesterfield sitting in a ditch. Looking closer, M finds a running shoe — and a severed foot.
Now M is involved in a murder investigation. Meanwhile, older brother K's work for a new political party begins to seem suspicious, while younger brother J navigates the complicated world of young-adulthood, and boss Rhonda demands more and more attention. M must navigate a world of Russian gangsters and neglected wives, biker gangs and suspicious coincidences. On top of everything else, M is determined to track down the owner of that red chesterfield and make sure they get a ticket.
The Red Chesterfield is a delightful, unusual novel that upends the tropes and traditions of crime fiction while asking how far one person is willing to go to solve a crime, be it murder or the abandonment of a piece of furniture. (University of Calgary Press)
Wayne Arthurson is a writer of Cree and French Canadian descent. He is the author of five novels, including Blood Red Summer and The Traitors of Camp 133.
- 34 works of Canadian fiction to watch for this fall
- Wayne Arthurson on naming his murder victims after his friends
- 108 Indigenous writers to read, as recommended by you
- Wayne Arthurson on the historical Canadian setting of his latest mystery
- Crime writer turns Edmonton into a main character in his novel
- How Wayne Arthurson started writing novels
- Wayne Arthurson plays with the mystery genre and magic in his novel The Red Chesterfield
- 35 books to read for National Indigenous History Month
- 14 Canadian mysteries and thrillers to check out this summer