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Title details for Blood in the Water by Silver Donald Cameron - Available

Blood in the Water

A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes

by Silver Donald Cameron
David Ferry
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
 
WINNER of the 2021 Atlantic Book Awards' Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award
Shortlisted for the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book

A brutal murder in a small Maritime fishing community raises urgent questions of right and wrong, and even the nature of good and evil, in this masterfully told true story.
In June 2013, three upstanding citizens of a small Cape Breton town cold-bloodedly murdered their neighbour, Phillip Boudreau, at sea. While out checking their lobster traps, two Landry cousins and skipper Dwayne Samson saw Boudreau in his boat, the Midnight Slider, about to vandalize their lobster traps. Like so many times before, Boudreau was about to cost them thousands of dollars out of their seasonal livelihood. One man took out a rifle and fired four shots at Boudreau and his boat. To finish the job, they rammed their own larger boat over the top of his speedboat. Boudreau's body was never found. Then they completed the day's fishing and went home to Petit de Grat on Isle Madame.
Boudreau was a Cape Breton original—an inventive small-time criminal who had terrorized and entertained Petit de Grat for two decades. He had been in prison for nearly half his adult life. He was funny and frightening, loathed, loved, and feared. One neighbour says he would "steal the beads off Christ's moccasins"—then give the booty away to someone in need. He would taunt his victims, and threaten them with arson if they reported him. He was accused of one attempted rape. Meanwhile the police and the Fisheries officers were frustrated, cowed, and hobbled by shrinking budgets. Boudreau seemed invincible, a miscreant who would plague the village forever.
Cameron, a resident of the area since 1971, argues that the Boudreau killing was a direct reaction to credible and dire threats that the authorities were powerless to neutralize. As many local people have said, if those fellows hadn't killed him, someone else would have. Like Say Nothing, The Perfect Storm, The Golden Spruce, and Into Thin Air, this book offers a dramatic narrative set in a unique, lovingly drawn setting, where a story about one small community has universal resonance. This is a story not about lobster, but about the grand themes of power and law, security and self-respect. It raises a disturbing question: Are there times when taking the law into your own hands is not only understandable but the responsible thing to do?

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 1, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780735240230
      • File size: 229169 KB
      • Duration: 07:57:26

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 13, 2021
      In this superb true crime account, Canadian author Cameron (Warrior Lawyers: From Manila to Manhattan, Attorneys for the Earth) examines a complex homicide case while questioning whether justice was done. On the morning of June 1, 2013, in the waters off Isle Madame, Nova Scotia, deckhand James Landry and two other lobster men aboard the Twin Maggies spotted notorious troublemaker Phillip Boudreau, who had a lengthy record as a lobster trap poacher, in his speedboat among their lobster pots. Afraid he was stealing from them again, Landry fired four shots at Boudreau’s boat, which then collided with the Twin Maggies. Boudreau fell overboard and was never seen again. Though the exact circumstances were in dispute, the prosecutor’s office concluded that Landry, the former owner of the Twin Maggies’ lobster license, deliberately killed Boudreau, largely based on testimony from the second deckhand. Besides thoroughly covering the trial, which ended with Landry’s manslaughter conviction, Cameron fleshes out the backstories of everyone involved, endeavors to resolve what actually happened (including who was responsible for Boudreau’s death), and explores the morality of taking the law into one’s own hands when law enforcement proves unable to offer protection. This is an instant true crime classic. Agent: Denise Bukowski, Bukowski Agency.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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