"I'm Coast Salish and I moved in here five years ago. Back then, storefront law-enforcement units manned by Aboriginal policemen were being hailed as bold experiments in social engineering. Nowadays, people complain that I'm running a hangout for the dregs of society. And why not? After all, crooks, drunks, hookers and cops derive from the same socioeconomic group. Cops and killers have similar levels of intelligence and ability, and the average murderer can be as charming as all get-out."

Meet Detective Silas Seaweed, a charming ladies man and formerly a member of the Victoria detective squad. Now a neighborhood cop, his 'neighborhood' involves the colourful elements of society where Seaweed is to be out of sight and out of mind of headquarters, so long as he can keep himself out of trouble, that is. When uniformed branch sergeant George Barton has Seaweed meet him out at billionaire Calvert Hunt's Foul Bay Road estate, Seaweed finds himself re-examining a 5 year old murder case and is recruited by the billionaire to search for his daughter Marcia who went missing of her own accord some 20 years previously. This trail leads Seaweed into further nasty business with a ruthless pimp, a new unsolved killing to make sense of and an attempt on his own life.

This is the first book in what is currently a six book police procedural series written by a local Victorian writer I had never heard of before stumbling across a mention of this series here on LT. This one had a lot of positives for me: Interesting street savvy lead character who tends to follow his own rules and is used to operating in that grey area that is not quite the law; solid writing; a complex, steady moving plot; characters with some substance to them; good attention to detail all interwoven with interpretations of traditional Salish tribal ceremonies and rituals made this a great Sunday read for me that was hard to put down until I finished it. Yes, the local setting is nice icing on the cake for a Victorian gal like me but shouldn't detract from non-Victorian's being able to enjoy this one and the series in general.

Yes, I will continue reading this series, if anything to find out what Seaweed gets up to next. ( )