The Bauer Confidential

On my trip back from NYC, I had already finished Water for Elephants and still had a 5+ hour flight ahead of me. Though sleep sounded very appealing, I’m not a good travel sleeper, so I knew I’d better pick up something to keep me occupied. I perused the selections at the shop in the airport. I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, but The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney appealed to me most.

This debut novel is set in the Canadian wilderness at the end of the 19th century. A time of trappers and companies ruled by interests back in England, this story gently reminds us of the environmental consequences of depleting natural resources, both to the world and to human financial interests. At its heart, this is a murder mystery. The story begins with the gruesome killing of a trapper in the small community of Dove River and the discovery of the scene by his neighbor Mrs. Ross along with the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Ross’s son. The intrigue revolves around the search for the murderer, which is undertaken by Company men who are essentially the law in the wilderness. There is much conflict between the desire of Mrs. Ross to prove her son is not the murder, and the certainty of the Company men that they know who is guilty, but only have to find him. Of course this tension leads to a cross-country search for the boy in the heart of winter, followed by a search for more answers at a remote outpost. As in all good mysteries, the truth is discovered to be far more complicated than anyone imagined. Perhaps too complicated.

This is where my criticism of this book lies. The story itself is compelling; the prose is lyric with picturesque descriptions and imaginative details. The narration switches between several characters in the book, giving interesting and varied perspectives on the tale. In having so many narrators, this novel turns into not one but several intertwining accounts. The only problem with this is that each individual narrator brings his or her own questions, and they are not all resolved. The end of the book feels a bit rushed, and rather anti-climactic. The readers is left with quite a few questions, perhaps this is done as a stylistic point but it is a tad disappointing. There are also some tangential stories that feel forced as mechanisms to bring the characters together. It is a good novel, if not completely satisfying.