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Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes
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?
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?
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2020
About the author
Silver Donald Cameron
22 books23 followersOne of Canada's most accomplished authors, Silver Donald Cameron currently devotes most of his time to his work as host and executive producer of TheGreenInterview.com, an environmental website devoted to intense, in-depth conversations with the brilliant thinkers and activists who are leading the way to a green, sustainable future. He is the author of Warrior Lawyers: From Manila to Manhattan, Attorneys for the Earth, the first Green Interview Book. Dr. Cameron also wrote and narrated The Green Interview's five documentary films: Bhutan: The Pursuit of Gross National Happiness (2010), The Celtic Mass for the Sea (2012), Salmon Wars: Salmon Farms, Wild Fish and the Future of Communities (2012), Defenders of the Dawn: Green Rights in the Maritimes (broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2015) and Green Rights: The Human Right to a Healthy World (2016).
“Since TheGreenInterview.com was launched in 2010, we've amassed more than 100 interviews with green giants from 18 countries,” he says. “I've climbed to the Tiger's Nest, a Buddhist monastery that clings to a Himalayan cliff-side in Bhutan, and with my buddy Chris Beckett – our master videographer – I've lived on a houseboat in an Amsterdam canal and stayed in a mediaeval inn in Sussex and at the ultra-posh University Club in New York. We've bounced around in an inflatable speedboat in a Pacific gale off Tofino, BC, to welcome the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior. We've travelled a filthy urban river in Buenos Aires on a garbage barge, crossed the Andes in a taxi from Quito to reach the Ecuadorian oil town of Lago Agrio, and interviewed a wounded Andean aboriginal leader in a rectory in Lima, Peru. We've had a wonderful time. It's been an education, a privilege and an inspiration.”
Silver Donald's literary work includes plays, films, radio and TV scripts, an extensive body of corporate and governmental writing, hundreds of magazine articles and 18 books, including two novels. He has won awards in all these forms of writing. His non-fiction subjects include history, travel, literature, politics, nature and the environment, ships and the sea, and community development as well as education and public affairs. He has been a columnist for The Globe and Mail, and from 1998 to 2011 he wrote an influential weekly column for the Halifax Sunday Herald. His classic book on shorelines, The Living Beach (1998), was re-released in 2014, and Warrior Lawyers appeared in 2016. The Education of Everett Richardson, his 1977 book on the 1970-71 Nova Scotia fishermen's strike, was re-issued in 2019, and his true crime book, Blood in the Water, will be published in August, 2020.
Silver Donald Cameron has built his own cruising sailboat, cruised extensively on the east coast of Canada and as far south as the Bahamas, and restored four heritage homes in rural Nova Scotia. He has also been a professor or writer-in-residence at seven universities and Dean of Community Studies at Cape Breton University. He holds two honorary doctorates as well as a Ph.D., and in 2012 he was appointed to both the Order of Canada and the Order of Nova Scotia.
Dr. Cameron is married to Marjorie Simmins, also an award-winning writer. They divide their time between Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
“Since TheGreenInterview.com was launched in 2010, we've amassed more than 100 interviews with green giants from 18 countries,” he says. “I've climbed to the Tiger's Nest, a Buddhist monastery that clings to a Himalayan cliff-side in Bhutan, and with my buddy Chris Beckett – our master videographer – I've lived on a houseboat in an Amsterdam canal and stayed in a mediaeval inn in Sussex and at the ultra-posh University Club in New York. We've bounced around in an inflatable speedboat in a Pacific gale off Tofino, BC, to welcome the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior. We've travelled a filthy urban river in Buenos Aires on a garbage barge, crossed the Andes in a taxi from Quito to reach the Ecuadorian oil town of Lago Agrio, and interviewed a wounded Andean aboriginal leader in a rectory in Lima, Peru. We've had a wonderful time. It's been an education, a privilege and an inspiration.”
Silver Donald's literary work includes plays, films, radio and TV scripts, an extensive body of corporate and governmental writing, hundreds of magazine articles and 18 books, including two novels. He has won awards in all these forms of writing. His non-fiction subjects include history, travel, literature, politics, nature and the environment, ships and the sea, and community development as well as education and public affairs. He has been a columnist for The Globe and Mail, and from 1998 to 2011 he wrote an influential weekly column for the Halifax Sunday Herald. His classic book on shorelines, The Living Beach (1998), was re-released in 2014, and Warrior Lawyers appeared in 2016. The Education of Everett Richardson, his 1977 book on the 1970-71 Nova Scotia fishermen's strike, was re-issued in 2019, and his true crime book, Blood in the Water, will be published in August, 2020.
Silver Donald Cameron has built his own cruising sailboat, cruised extensively on the east coast of Canada and as far south as the Bahamas, and restored four heritage homes in rural Nova Scotia. He has also been a professor or writer-in-residence at seven universities and Dean of Community Studies at Cape Breton University. He holds two honorary doctorates as well as a Ph.D., and in 2012 he was appointed to both the Order of Canada and the Order of Nova Scotia.
Dr. Cameron is married to Marjorie Simmins, also an award-winning writer. They divide their time between Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
October 20, 2024
Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes is late Canadian journalist, author, playwright and teacher Silver Donald Cameron's account of a horrifying crime that occurred in June 2013 near Isle Madame, Nova Scotia, Canada, the resulting legal proceedings and community disquiet that followed.
As anyone who has ever had personal involvement or knowledge of a sensational crime will know, the true story is often substantially more complex than that portrayed in the media, or even before a jury in court. Silver Donald Cameron paints a nuanced picture of the small fishing community of Petit-de-Grat, and the years of personal and community provocation and frustration that led inexorably to the death of islander Phillip Boudreau on 1 June 2013.
Boudreau was a lifelong petty criminal and nuisance, who was notorious for poaching lobster from the traps placed by hardworking career fishermen. He'd often flaunt his loot, waving it at the disgruntled trap owners as he sped off in his faster speedboat. He also had a history of flagrantly stealing vehicles and other property from islanders, usually to sell on for cash. Boudreau spent much of his adult life in and out of prison, but local law enforcement, either by reason of apathy or due to the constraints of the legal system, were unable to control his frequent crime sprees. Any islander who expressed his or her displeasure or reported Boudreau's crimes was likely to find themselves on the receiving end either of property damage or threats of violence to themselves and their families.
On the day of his death, Boudreau had set out early to steal lobster from the traps of long-established Petit-de-Grat fisherman James Landry, who was in business with his daughter and son-in-law. Catching Boudreau in the act, and at his wits end after suffering years of damaged property and lost business, Landry shot at Boudreau with a gun he had on board Twin Maggies. Landry and his crew then pursued Boudreau, crushing his smaller vessel, Midnight Slider. Exactly what happened thereafter remains a matter of conjecture, but Boudreau was never seen again, nor his body ever recovered.
A week after the incident, Landry and his son-in-law Dwayne Samson, skipper of the Twin Maggies, were charged with Boudreau's murder, after deckhand Craig Landry (everyone on Isle Madame seems to be interrelated) gave police a statement to the effect that they'd forcibly drowned Boudreau using a gaff hook.
Cameron's account of the ensuing trial of James Landry is interwoven with his descriptions of the complex history of Isle Madame and its inhabitants. The book brings to mind Truman Capote's classic true crime novel, In Cold Blood, for its richness of detail in examining the ripples created by a notorious crime. While Cameron's prose isn't lyrical in the sense that Capote's is, his longstanding personal experience of the area brings invaluable texture to the narrative.
Cameron explores the moral ambiguity surrounding the death of Phillip Boudreau - many details of which the jury hearing Landry's case weren't entitled to be privy to. He also highlights the Isle Madame community's mingled feelings of shared guilt and relief at Boudreau's death - while the dispensing of vigilante justice can't be condoned, it's clear that many, Cameron included, felt a great deal of sympathy for James Landry and Dwayne Samson, and the predicament in which they found themselves.
I found Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes a fascinating and thought-provoking read, and would recommend it to readers who enjoy a more thoughtful form of true crime writing, or have an interest in the vagaries and limitations of the legal system.
My thanks to the author, Silver Donald Cameron, whose death in 2020 (ironically on the seventh anniversary of Boudreau's) I was sorry to read of, publisher Swift Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this fascinating title.
As anyone who has ever had personal involvement or knowledge of a sensational crime will know, the true story is often substantially more complex than that portrayed in the media, or even before a jury in court. Silver Donald Cameron paints a nuanced picture of the small fishing community of Petit-de-Grat, and the years of personal and community provocation and frustration that led inexorably to the death of islander Phillip Boudreau on 1 June 2013.
Boudreau was a lifelong petty criminal and nuisance, who was notorious for poaching lobster from the traps placed by hardworking career fishermen. He'd often flaunt his loot, waving it at the disgruntled trap owners as he sped off in his faster speedboat. He also had a history of flagrantly stealing vehicles and other property from islanders, usually to sell on for cash. Boudreau spent much of his adult life in and out of prison, but local law enforcement, either by reason of apathy or due to the constraints of the legal system, were unable to control his frequent crime sprees. Any islander who expressed his or her displeasure or reported Boudreau's crimes was likely to find themselves on the receiving end either of property damage or threats of violence to themselves and their families.
On the day of his death, Boudreau had set out early to steal lobster from the traps of long-established Petit-de-Grat fisherman James Landry, who was in business with his daughter and son-in-law. Catching Boudreau in the act, and at his wits end after suffering years of damaged property and lost business, Landry shot at Boudreau with a gun he had on board Twin Maggies. Landry and his crew then pursued Boudreau, crushing his smaller vessel, Midnight Slider. Exactly what happened thereafter remains a matter of conjecture, but Boudreau was never seen again, nor his body ever recovered.
A week after the incident, Landry and his son-in-law Dwayne Samson, skipper of the Twin Maggies, were charged with Boudreau's murder, after deckhand Craig Landry (everyone on Isle Madame seems to be interrelated) gave police a statement to the effect that they'd forcibly drowned Boudreau using a gaff hook.
Cameron's account of the ensuing trial of James Landry is interwoven with his descriptions of the complex history of Isle Madame and its inhabitants. The book brings to mind Truman Capote's classic true crime novel, In Cold Blood, for its richness of detail in examining the ripples created by a notorious crime. While Cameron's prose isn't lyrical in the sense that Capote's is, his longstanding personal experience of the area brings invaluable texture to the narrative.
Cameron explores the moral ambiguity surrounding the death of Phillip Boudreau - many details of which the jury hearing Landry's case weren't entitled to be privy to. He also highlights the Isle Madame community's mingled feelings of shared guilt and relief at Boudreau's death - while the dispensing of vigilante justice can't be condoned, it's clear that many, Cameron included, felt a great deal of sympathy for James Landry and Dwayne Samson, and the predicament in which they found themselves.
I found Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes a fascinating and thought-provoking read, and would recommend it to readers who enjoy a more thoughtful form of true crime writing, or have an interest in the vagaries and limitations of the legal system.
My thanks to the author, Silver Donald Cameron, whose death in 2020 (ironically on the seventh anniversary of Boudreau's) I was sorry to read of, publisher Swift Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this fascinating title.
August 25, 2020
I think it is fitting that this was Silver Donald Cameron’s last work, as it is more than a tale of revenge, it is a love letter to the people of Isle Madame.
October 17, 2021
Every place has its ne'er-do-well, and Isle Madame's was a particular menace. So when he was killed out at sea by a fed-up crew of fishermen, reactions in the community were mixed.
This was an interesting read, but not as true crime unfortunately. I enjoyed the style of writing and how entwined the author was with the community. I liked learning about the Acadians and life on Isle Madame, and how someone like Philip could get away with what he did for so long.
However, the courtroom scenes dragged, with the author often relating the trial verbatim in parts. There's not a lot of suspense around the crime as we know pretty much from the start what happened, and the more intense reveals about the character of the victim were buried very late in the book.
Overall, an informative read, but not a favorite.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
This was an interesting read, but not as true crime unfortunately. I enjoyed the style of writing and how entwined the author was with the community. I liked learning about the Acadians and life on Isle Madame, and how someone like Philip could get away with what he did for so long.
However, the courtroom scenes dragged, with the author often relating the trial verbatim in parts. There's not a lot of suspense around the crime as we know pretty much from the start what happened, and the more intense reveals about the character of the victim were buried very late in the book.
Overall, an informative read, but not a favorite.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
December 22, 2020
The media dubbed it the "murder for lobster" trial, but as he explains in the final novel before his death, Silver Donald Cameron illustrates that it was so much more. A series of events that all spiraled into the criminal becoming the victim and the victims becoming the criminals.
I was absolutely unable to put this true crime down as Caneron takes us in and out of the small Nova Scotian community and into the courtroom. This was an impulse buy that was absolutely rewarding from start to finish.
Goodreads review published 21/12/20
I was absolutely unable to put this true crime down as Caneron takes us in and out of the small Nova Scotian community and into the courtroom. This was an impulse buy that was absolutely rewarding from start to finish.
Goodreads review published 21/12/20
September 7, 2020
I'm from Cape Breton and have been to Petit-de-Grat, where this book takes place, so I thought it would be interesting. The story itself was (I hadn't heard about it) but I found there was waaaaaaaaaaay too much filler ... about the fishing industry, the Acadians, the steel industry in Sydney, etc. Did it matter that Beyoncé's ancestor was Joseph Broussard, the "Acadian Che Guevara"? Or that when the author bought his first property in Isle Madame in 1971 that Arthur LeBlanc, the former Supreme Court justice, managed the transaction?
May 13, 2021
Blood in The Water is a gripping, insightful account of small town murder and asks the question can such actions ever be justified?
The author takes us right into the lives of this community, painting a realistic and vivid picture of both victim and perpetrators- an intricately detailed sense of the place where they live and right at the heart of it a morality tale of how actions have consequences.
The victim in this case is no angel, those who took a life that day pretty much at the end of their tethers. Through the first hand accounts of the community and a front row seat at the ensuing trials, Blood In The Water is beautifully crafted and completely addictive. Whether justice is ultimately served in this case will almost certainly be in the eyes of the beholder and the author makes no judgments but offers both fact and interpretation.
Sadly Silver Donald Cameron passed away in 2020. I’ll have to read his other work but as a swan song I imagine Blood In The Water will stand the test of time- not only because it is so incredibly well written and full of journalistic insight but because the questions it asks of society are eternal.
Highly Recommended
The author takes us right into the lives of this community, painting a realistic and vivid picture of both victim and perpetrators- an intricately detailed sense of the place where they live and right at the heart of it a morality tale of how actions have consequences.
The victim in this case is no angel, those who took a life that day pretty much at the end of their tethers. Through the first hand accounts of the community and a front row seat at the ensuing trials, Blood In The Water is beautifully crafted and completely addictive. Whether justice is ultimately served in this case will almost certainly be in the eyes of the beholder and the author makes no judgments but offers both fact and interpretation.
Sadly Silver Donald Cameron passed away in 2020. I’ll have to read his other work but as a swan song I imagine Blood In The Water will stand the test of time- not only because it is so incredibly well written and full of journalistic insight but because the questions it asks of society are eternal.
Highly Recommended
September 11, 2020
"It's not about stealing lobster. It's about a problem that continues and doesn't stop. People said 'murder for lobster.' I said, Look, if that guy had of come in my shed and took a screwdriver, okay, would you have said 'murder for screwdrivers'? Because it's not about the value of what he stole, it's about having someone that constantly is disrupting people's lives."
I had been browsing through CBC Books’ Fall Nonfiction Guide a few weeks ago when Silver Donald Cameron’s Blood in the Water jumped out at me. Does anyone remember the “murder for lobster” case that brought international eyes to the small island of Isle Madame? Well, it all happened in June of 2013 when three men - James Landry, Craig Landry and Dwayne Samson, aboard the Twin Maggie’s fishing ship, brutally killed Phillip Boudreau after Boudreau had been caught cutting and poaching their lobster traps.
While the “murder for lobster” tagline certainly helped attract widespread interest in the case, it’s unfair to distill what happened on that day down to simply someone dying over lobster. A life-long resident of Isle Madame, Cameron explores just who Phillip Boudreau was and why his complicated relationship with his fellow island inhabitants led to a boiling point that morning.
Much of the book is spent analyzing Boudreau’s adverse effect on the community. For years, he would steal from the community, cut lobster traps and generally cause chaos in the small town. There were even claims of violent sexual crimes made against him. One problem lay in the fact that the RCMP were often helpless to stop him as rarely could anyone prove that Phillip had committed some or any of these crimes. Even when they did get him into custody, it was only for extremely short stints in jail where he would come out having learned little. There’s a funny story where Boudreau was being transported to Sydney for a hearing and asked to stop on the side of the road to relieve himself. When he went into the ditch to urinate, he ran into the woods and escaped. Another problem, and the bigger one, being that Phillip would constantly threaten those who followed through with a complaint against him to the RCMP with arson or violence. People felt helpless against his reign of terror.
It seemed surreal to be reading a true crime book set in Cape Breton, the island where I grew up. Cameron printed direct, unedited anonymous quotes from Isle Madame’s inhabitants that contain slang and dialects I’m more than familiar with. Is it weird that it made me homesick? I don’t think that’s the goal of a true crime story. With Cameron being permitted to attend the trials of the men accused, he had firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of the courtroom and recounted each day blow-by-blow. Some people may find this dull, but I loved it. Maybe it stems from my enjoyment of the old Perry Mason series.
There did seem to be a bit of filler in here. I don’t believe a history of the Acadian people in the Maritimes really added anything to the book or was at all necessary. Cameron also included the Catholic Priest Scandal of the latter part of the last century, seemingly out of nowhere, with no connection to the main crime. There are a few moments like that that left me scratching my head. Unfortunately, Cameron had passed away in June of this year, shortly after delivering his manuscript, so it’s possible he wasn’t quite finished nor settled with the final product.
Tangents aside, Blood in the Water does a more than adequate job bringing to light the true factors that led to Phillip Boudreau’s death. While Maritimers can certainly hold a grudge, we have a fuse a mile long and are willing to put up with just about anything. Boudreau finally pushed someone too far on that day and ultimately, it led to tragedy.
I had been browsing through CBC Books’ Fall Nonfiction Guide a few weeks ago when Silver Donald Cameron’s Blood in the Water jumped out at me. Does anyone remember the “murder for lobster” case that brought international eyes to the small island of Isle Madame? Well, it all happened in June of 2013 when three men - James Landry, Craig Landry and Dwayne Samson, aboard the Twin Maggie’s fishing ship, brutally killed Phillip Boudreau after Boudreau had been caught cutting and poaching their lobster traps.
While the “murder for lobster” tagline certainly helped attract widespread interest in the case, it’s unfair to distill what happened on that day down to simply someone dying over lobster. A life-long resident of Isle Madame, Cameron explores just who Phillip Boudreau was and why his complicated relationship with his fellow island inhabitants led to a boiling point that morning.
Much of the book is spent analyzing Boudreau’s adverse effect on the community. For years, he would steal from the community, cut lobster traps and generally cause chaos in the small town. There were even claims of violent sexual crimes made against him. One problem lay in the fact that the RCMP were often helpless to stop him as rarely could anyone prove that Phillip had committed some or any of these crimes. Even when they did get him into custody, it was only for extremely short stints in jail where he would come out having learned little. There’s a funny story where Boudreau was being transported to Sydney for a hearing and asked to stop on the side of the road to relieve himself. When he went into the ditch to urinate, he ran into the woods and escaped. Another problem, and the bigger one, being that Phillip would constantly threaten those who followed through with a complaint against him to the RCMP with arson or violence. People felt helpless against his reign of terror.
It seemed surreal to be reading a true crime book set in Cape Breton, the island where I grew up. Cameron printed direct, unedited anonymous quotes from Isle Madame’s inhabitants that contain slang and dialects I’m more than familiar with. Is it weird that it made me homesick? I don’t think that’s the goal of a true crime story. With Cameron being permitted to attend the trials of the men accused, he had firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of the courtroom and recounted each day blow-by-blow. Some people may find this dull, but I loved it. Maybe it stems from my enjoyment of the old Perry Mason series.
There did seem to be a bit of filler in here. I don’t believe a history of the Acadian people in the Maritimes really added anything to the book or was at all necessary. Cameron also included the Catholic Priest Scandal of the latter part of the last century, seemingly out of nowhere, with no connection to the main crime. There are a few moments like that that left me scratching my head. Unfortunately, Cameron had passed away in June of this year, shortly after delivering his manuscript, so it’s possible he wasn’t quite finished nor settled with the final product.
Tangents aside, Blood in the Water does a more than adequate job bringing to light the true factors that led to Phillip Boudreau’s death. While Maritimers can certainly hold a grudge, we have a fuse a mile long and are willing to put up with just about anything. Boudreau finally pushed someone too far on that day and ultimately, it led to tragedy.
September 2, 2020
I struggled to get through this book. After reading the jacket, I was very intrigued, it sounded like an interesting True Crime book. After two chapters the murder, the mystery, everything was out in the open and solved. The remainder of the book is directed at the town/community the murder took place in. This book is more about the history of fisheries on the East Coast, more about the letter of the law and more about the history of Atlantic Canada then it is about a murder. To be honest, the murder itself has no real interesting or suspenseful facts and really had know reason to have had a book written about it. There was a murder, the murders where not only caught, but admitted to the murder, they where charged, as they should have been, case closed.
I found the majority of the chapters essentially where a play by play of the trial. An at that, based all around just one of the suspects. Which was very dull and hard to read at times. The author would then alternate to stories about the community or the history of Atlantic Canada. An not to put down the community or anything like that, but I personally don’t find that interesting, where as I do find true crime interesting, hence why I purchased the book.
Simply put, I don’t even understand why there was a book written about this incident, even the murder and the circumstances surrounding it where not anything out of the ordinary. I would not recommend purchasing this book if you are looking for true crime. If you are interested in a lesson of Canadian Law or the history of Atlantic Canada and the Fishing community, by all means.
I found the majority of the chapters essentially where a play by play of the trial. An at that, based all around just one of the suspects. Which was very dull and hard to read at times. The author would then alternate to stories about the community or the history of Atlantic Canada. An not to put down the community or anything like that, but I personally don’t find that interesting, where as I do find true crime interesting, hence why I purchased the book.
Simply put, I don’t even understand why there was a book written about this incident, even the murder and the circumstances surrounding it where not anything out of the ordinary. I would not recommend purchasing this book if you are looking for true crime. If you are interested in a lesson of Canadian Law or the history of Atlantic Canada and the Fishing community, by all means.
April 18, 2021
I reviewed this book in Saltscapes Magazine's Oct 2020 issue, with the conclusion: "It took a writer like Silver Donald Cameron to show how the ‘murder for lobster’ case runs so much deeper than just petty human differences."
October 3, 2021
I received a free publisher's digital review copy, via Netgalley.
Phillip Boudreau was an incorrigible criminal with, according to some prison psychiatrists, the moral development of a five-year-old. Living on the small Canadian Maritimes island of Isle Madame, Phillip brazenly steals, vandalizes, threatens, and—as we find out late in the book—worse. This is a fishing community, and Phillip commonly not only steals lobsters from neighbors’ traps, he sells the lobsters on the town wharf, and he cuts their trap lines and vandalizes their traps.
Though Phillip has been committing crimes for years, and been arrested and jailed many times, much of the time the Mounties and the Fisheries officials are unsuccessful catching him. And, as some townspeople say, Phillip’s threats are worse than the crimes, because you can’t feel safe, and law enforcement don’t do anything about them.
The years of fear, anger and frustration come to a head one sunny day in June, as lobstermen James Landry, his son-in-law, and their hired man see Phillip stealing their lobsters and taunting them as he cuts the lines. The lobstermen come back to port, but Phillip never does. His speedboat is found drifting, missing its motor.
Cameron vividly depicts life on Isle Madame, a place where everybody knows everybody else, and people don’t tend to lock their houses or vehicles (even with Phillip around). He describes the court case in detail, the prosecution’s version of the case, defense counsels’ versions, the court’s instructions, the verdicts, sentencing, and the aftermath for the community.
Cameron asks the question: what do you do in a small community with someone like Phillip Boudreau, when the legal system has failed? What is the effect of violence on the community? This is a striking story not just of crime, but of a unique way of life, informed by Acadian, native tribal, and Anglo traditions.
Phillip Boudreau was an incorrigible criminal with, according to some prison psychiatrists, the moral development of a five-year-old. Living on the small Canadian Maritimes island of Isle Madame, Phillip brazenly steals, vandalizes, threatens, and—as we find out late in the book—worse. This is a fishing community, and Phillip commonly not only steals lobsters from neighbors’ traps, he sells the lobsters on the town wharf, and he cuts their trap lines and vandalizes their traps.
Though Phillip has been committing crimes for years, and been arrested and jailed many times, much of the time the Mounties and the Fisheries officials are unsuccessful catching him. And, as some townspeople say, Phillip’s threats are worse than the crimes, because you can’t feel safe, and law enforcement don’t do anything about them.
The years of fear, anger and frustration come to a head one sunny day in June, as lobstermen James Landry, his son-in-law, and their hired man see Phillip stealing their lobsters and taunting them as he cuts the lines. The lobstermen come back to port, but Phillip never does. His speedboat is found drifting, missing its motor.
Cameron vividly depicts life on Isle Madame, a place where everybody knows everybody else, and people don’t tend to lock their houses or vehicles (even with Phillip around). He describes the court case in detail, the prosecution’s version of the case, defense counsels’ versions, the court’s instructions, the verdicts, sentencing, and the aftermath for the community.
Cameron asks the question: what do you do in a small community with someone like Phillip Boudreau, when the legal system has failed? What is the effect of violence on the community? This is a striking story not just of crime, but of a unique way of life, informed by Acadian, native tribal, and Anglo traditions.
August 21, 2020
This is quintessential Silver Donald. It's brilliantly told with lots of compassion. It's such a tragic story and somehow SDC manages to deftly weave together all the threads so that the reader understands that there is never one story, one true account, of a tragedy. The book focusses on the court cases, but, as one would expect, the book sits square in context -- the whole context, the history of the Acadians, and (particularly intriguing) how Acadian communities interact with the law and its institutions. Since the Portapique tragedy in April, the RCMP in rural Nova Scotia has been under some scrutiny, and although all of this was written prior to this, this reader couldn't help seeing some similar threads. This is a great book, and it's really a great shame that Don is not here to talk about it. Highly recommend it.
September 10, 2020
Cameron is a fantastic storyteller and he really put a lot of work into trying to get the complete picture of the impact of crime on an entire community. It also raises a lot of good questions.
Having grown up in a small Acadian fishing village in Nova Scotia and this book really hit home for me. There are a lot of similarities. It’s a lot to process. It’s almost too much and I do not think I can write a review that will do the book justice.
If you like true crime, this is one of the good ones. If you have any connection to Atlantic Canada, you will want to read this.
Having grown up in a small Acadian fishing village in Nova Scotia and this book really hit home for me. There are a lot of similarities. It’s a lot to process. It’s almost too much and I do not think I can write a review that will do the book justice.
If you like true crime, this is one of the good ones. If you have any connection to Atlantic Canada, you will want to read this.
November 24, 2021
Should a true-crime recounting of a murder ever be “enjoyable?” And if so, how can one aptly describe an experience as pleasurable when it involves death?
This is the Catch-22 when it comes to books like Silver Donald Cameron’s Blood in the Water. Like the true-crime book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Blood in the Water is filled with a collection of amusing people and circumstances in such a way that the recounting of a murder and the subsequent trial is both compelling and amusing at times.
Blood in the Water is similar to watching a short video clip of a person’s mishap that at first appears to be innocently humorous until the realization that the mishap was actually pretty serious.
Another way to describe Cameron’s book would be to imagine a blending of Berendt’s book, the historical background of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, with the quirkiness of the Netflix documentary The Legend of Cocaine Island.
In June of 2013, three Acadian fishermen of Petit de Grat, Isle Madame, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, fed up with the habitual and decades-long criminality of Philip Boudreau, decide it is time to take matters into their own hands and end up killing Boudreau while he is vandalizing their lobster cages.
Through descriptions, Boudreau is almost able to be imagined as a real-life gadfly and troublemaker similar to the fictional character Ernest T. Bass from the classic television series The Andy Griffith Show, but only in a more serious and dangerous way. For decades, Boudreau was not only known for minor acts of misbehavior, but much more serious ones such as threatening to burn down the homes of people if they complained, which also included threats to law enforcement personnel if they took action against his acts of criminality.
Boudreau also bore a duality of either being liked and tolerated or intensely despised for his behavior.
In dealing with not only the murder and subsequent trial, like Keefe’s Say Nothing, Cameron provides an in-depth, but accessible history of the Acadian people of the region and of their culture. For example, unlike the legal system of the United States being largely guided by legal precedents and original foundations, the legal system of this region has been allowed to modify by accepting how the changes in culture and society are dynamic and ever-changing, and such evolution should be taken into account in legal matters.
Cameron’s examination of Acadian society allows the reader to fully grasp the uniqueness of the region and its citizens, which adds to the complexity of how difficult it was to curtail Boudreau’s behavior, especially when people were worried about their homes being burnt to the ground with them in them. Acadians are very community-oriented, forgiving, and with a practice of helping neighbors in need while in a community where doors are not locked at night or when people are not in their homes.
Blood in The Water is recommended to fans of true crime novels with legal matters and well-researched backgrounds.
Netgalley provided a copy of Blood in the Water with the promise of a fair review.
This review was originally published at MysteryandSuspence.com.
This is the Catch-22 when it comes to books like Silver Donald Cameron’s Blood in the Water. Like the true-crime book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Blood in the Water is filled with a collection of amusing people and circumstances in such a way that the recounting of a murder and the subsequent trial is both compelling and amusing at times.
Blood in the Water is similar to watching a short video clip of a person’s mishap that at first appears to be innocently humorous until the realization that the mishap was actually pretty serious.
Another way to describe Cameron’s book would be to imagine a blending of Berendt’s book, the historical background of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, with the quirkiness of the Netflix documentary The Legend of Cocaine Island.
In June of 2013, three Acadian fishermen of Petit de Grat, Isle Madame, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, fed up with the habitual and decades-long criminality of Philip Boudreau, decide it is time to take matters into their own hands and end up killing Boudreau while he is vandalizing their lobster cages.
Through descriptions, Boudreau is almost able to be imagined as a real-life gadfly and troublemaker similar to the fictional character Ernest T. Bass from the classic television series The Andy Griffith Show, but only in a more serious and dangerous way. For decades, Boudreau was not only known for minor acts of misbehavior, but much more serious ones such as threatening to burn down the homes of people if they complained, which also included threats to law enforcement personnel if they took action against his acts of criminality.
Boudreau also bore a duality of either being liked and tolerated or intensely despised for his behavior.
In dealing with not only the murder and subsequent trial, like Keefe’s Say Nothing, Cameron provides an in-depth, but accessible history of the Acadian people of the region and of their culture. For example, unlike the legal system of the United States being largely guided by legal precedents and original foundations, the legal system of this region has been allowed to modify by accepting how the changes in culture and society are dynamic and ever-changing, and such evolution should be taken into account in legal matters.
Cameron’s examination of Acadian society allows the reader to fully grasp the uniqueness of the region and its citizens, which adds to the complexity of how difficult it was to curtail Boudreau’s behavior, especially when people were worried about their homes being burnt to the ground with them in them. Acadians are very community-oriented, forgiving, and with a practice of helping neighbors in need while in a community where doors are not locked at night or when people are not in their homes.
Blood in The Water is recommended to fans of true crime novels with legal matters and well-researched backgrounds.
Netgalley provided a copy of Blood in the Water with the promise of a fair review.
This review was originally published at MysteryandSuspence.com.
October 21, 2021
An incident that hits close to home and one I followed very closely in 2013 and onwards while it was all unfolding. I never realized a book had been published until I completely stumbled across it in a bookstore recently... This book did a great job at providing more insight into the entire situation and also included a lot of perspectives from people who lived in Isle Madame who were willing to provide thoughts and comments that are neatly tucked into great spots in the book. This book really put the entire case into perspective and gave it such an in-depth feel - Definitely recommend to anyone who is familiar with the Murder for Lobster, True Crime, or anyone who just wants a good Local NS read!
August 29, 2020
An intricately woven text that recounts a complicated story of how a lack of action and ever increasing frustration can lead to deadly consequences. Set in an Acadian community on Cape Breton Island, Silver Donald recounts the events of June 1, 2013 - the fateful day of the encounter between the crew of the fishing boat Twin Maggies and Philip Boudreau on his small motorboat Midnight Slider. Boudreau’s boat was recovered, but his body was never found. Silver Donald takes us through the day of the event and the ensuing days and years of trials while providing important details about the main characters’s life and culture. A must read.
August 28, 2020
Man, this made me homesick. (My family is from Richmond County, my mom went to school on Isle Madame, a lot of my relatives know the players involved... even my old beloved French teacher shows up for a couple pages.) Well-written and well-flavoured with local colour and history that sheds light on the complex nature of the case.
November 24, 2021
Should a true-crime recounting of a murder ever be “enjoyable?” And if so, how can one aptly describe an experience as pleasurable when it involves death?
This is the Catch-22 when it comes to books like Silver Donald Cameron’s Blood in the Water. Like the true-crime book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Blood in the Water is filled with a collection of amusing people and circumstances in such a way that the recounting of a murder and the subsequent trial is both compelling and amusing at times.
Blood in the Water is similar to watching a short video clip of a person’s mishap that at first appears to be innocently humorous until the realization that the mishap was actually pretty serious.
Another way to describe Cameron’s book would be to imagine a blending of Berendt’s book, the historical background of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, with the quirkiness of the Netflix documentary The Legend of Cocaine Island.
In June of 2013, three Acadian fishermen of Petit de Grat, Isle Madame, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, fed up with the habitual and decades-long criminality of Philip Boudreau, decide it is time to take matters into their own hands and end up killing Boudreau while he is vandalizing their lobster cages.
Through descriptions, Boudreau is almost able to be imagined as a real-life gadfly and troublemaker similar to the fictional character Ernest T. Bass from the classic television series The Andy Griffith Show, but only in a more serious and dangerous way. For decades, Boudreau was not only known for minor acts of misbehavior, but much more serious ones such as threatening to burn down the homes of people if they complained, which also included threats to law enforcement personnel if they took action against his acts of criminality.
Boudreau also bore a duality of either being liked and tolerated or intensely despised for his behavior.
In dealing with not only the murder and subsequent trial, like Keefe’s Say Nothing, Cameron provides an in-depth, but accessible history of the Acadian people of the region and of their culture. For example, unlike the legal system of the United States being largely guided by legal precedents and original foundations, the legal system of this region has been allowed to modify by accepting how the changes in culture and society are dynamic and ever-changing, and such evolution should be taken into account in legal matters.
Cameron’s examination of Acadian society allows the reader to fully grasp the uniqueness of the region and its citizens, which adds to the complexity of how difficult it was to curtail Boudreau’s behavior, especially when people were worried about their homes being burnt to the ground with them in them. Acadians are very community-oriented, forgiving, and with a practice of helping neighbors in need while in a community where doors are not locked at night or when people are not in their homes.
Blood in The Water is recommended to fans of true crime novels with legal matters and well-researched backgrounds.
Netgalley provided a copy of Blood in the Water with the promise of a fair review.
This review was originally published at MysteryandSuspence.com.
This is the Catch-22 when it comes to books like Silver Donald Cameron’s Blood in the Water. Like the true-crime book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Blood in the Water is filled with a collection of amusing people and circumstances in such a way that the recounting of a murder and the subsequent trial is both compelling and amusing at times.
Blood in the Water is similar to watching a short video clip of a person’s mishap that at first appears to be innocently humorous until the realization that the mishap was actually pretty serious.
Another way to describe Cameron’s book would be to imagine a blending of Berendt’s book, the historical background of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, with the quirkiness of the Netflix documentary The Legend of Cocaine Island.
In June of 2013, three Acadian fishermen of Petit de Grat, Isle Madame, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, fed up with the habitual and decades-long criminality of Philip Boudreau, decide it is time to take matters into their own hands and end up killing Boudreau while he is vandalizing their lobster cages.
Through descriptions, Boudreau is almost able to be imagined as a real-life gadfly and troublemaker similar to the fictional character Ernest T. Bass from the classic television series The Andy Griffith Show, but only in a more serious and dangerous way. For decades, Boudreau was not only known for minor acts of misbehavior, but much more serious ones such as threatening to burn down the homes of people if they complained, which also included threats to law enforcement personnel if they took action against his acts of criminality.
Boudreau also bore a duality of either being liked and tolerated or intensely despised for his behavior.
In dealing with not only the murder and subsequent trial, like Keefe’s Say Nothing, Cameron provides an in-depth, but accessible history of the Acadian people of the region and of their culture. For example, unlike the legal system of the United States being largely guided by legal precedents and original foundations, the legal system of this region has been allowed to modify by accepting how the changes in culture and society are dynamic and ever-changing, and such evolution should be taken into account in legal matters.
Cameron’s examination of Acadian society allows the reader to fully grasp the uniqueness of the region and its citizens, which adds to the complexity of how difficult it was to curtail Boudreau’s behavior, especially when people were worried about their homes being burnt to the ground with them in them. Acadians are very community-oriented, forgiving, and with a practice of helping neighbors in need while in a community where doors are not locked at night or when people are not in their homes.
Blood in The Water is recommended to fans of true crime novels with legal matters and well-researched backgrounds.
Netgalley provided a copy of Blood in the Water with the promise of a fair review.
This review was originally published at MysteryandSuspence.com.
January 2, 2022
Check out this review and more on my blog, Maya’s Reviews.
Listen to this review and more on my podcast, Maya's Reviews.
---
Thank you to Viking and Edelweiss for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I am unable to provide a full list of content warnings, as I was unable to finish reading this book. Some general content warnings: death, murder, violence.
---
// Quick Review //
1/5 Stars
While the story of Phillip Boudreau is an interesting and tragic one, I found it hard to read this book and its vague telling of the events involved with Boudreau’s death/murder. I ended up not finishing this book due to its poor flow and storytelling.
---
// Other Information //
Publisher: Viking
Page Count: 256 pages
Release Date: August 11, 2020
Series: None
Genre: Non-fiction, Adult, True crime, History
---
// Review //
Never having heard of Phillip Boudreau, I was intrigued by the description of Blood in the Water, as it promised a unique telling of a previously unseen story.
As I started reading Blood in the Water, it became apparent that the majority of the book focuses on what happens in court rather than the events leading up to or causing Boudreau’s death. The book became rather vague early on, making it hard to get through.
I struggled to read more than 20% of Blood in the Water, as the book dragged on and became unbearable.
---
FOLLOW ME: Twitter || Tumblr || BookBub || BookSiren || Anchor || YouTube || Spotify || Google Podcasts || Apple Podcasts
Listen to this review and more on my podcast, Maya's Reviews.
---
Thank you to Viking and Edelweiss for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I am unable to provide a full list of content warnings, as I was unable to finish reading this book. Some general content warnings: death, murder, violence.
---
// Quick Review //
1/5 Stars
While the story of Phillip Boudreau is an interesting and tragic one, I found it hard to read this book and its vague telling of the events involved with Boudreau’s death/murder. I ended up not finishing this book due to its poor flow and storytelling.
---
// Other Information //
Publisher: Viking
Page Count: 256 pages
Release Date: August 11, 2020
Series: None
Genre: Non-fiction, Adult, True crime, History
---
// Review //
Never having heard of Phillip Boudreau, I was intrigued by the description of Blood in the Water, as it promised a unique telling of a previously unseen story.
As I started reading Blood in the Water, it became apparent that the majority of the book focuses on what happens in court rather than the events leading up to or causing Boudreau’s death. The book became rather vague early on, making it hard to get through.
I struggled to read more than 20% of Blood in the Water, as the book dragged on and became unbearable.
---
FOLLOW ME: Twitter || Tumblr || BookBub || BookSiren || Anchor || YouTube || Spotify || Google Podcasts || Apple Podcasts
October 4, 2021
This is an in-depth look at a Canadian true crime story about a thief, Phillip Boudreau, who had been tormenting people on Cape Breton Island for decades. When he wasn’t in jail, he liked to steal lobster, lobster traps, or just cut the lines to the traps if he felt like someone had been talking to authorities about him. He also liked to threaten to burn their homes down frequently, and steal anything he could find in and around their homes. Strangely enough, he was also known for his acts of generosity to people in need, and there were many who liked him as well. It all came to a head when he was caught stealing lobsters and cutting trap lines, but stayed ahead of the fishing boat they belonged to and taunted them, laughing. A good non-fiction book about culture and crime on the island. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Silver Donald Cameron, and the publisher.
April 30, 2024
I read this for my local book club, and likely wouldn't have picked it for myself, but it was an interesting read. It focuses on the murder of a local petty criminal and trouble maker by a trio of frustrated citizens in a small Nova Scotia fishing community. Phillip Boudreau was a thief and a poacher who had been causing trouble for decades and had a lengthy criminal record. Anyone who reported him was likely to receive threats against their loved ones and property. But Boudreau was also viewed as a harmless character by many, and could be very giving and charitable, thus earning him many friends. His death tore the community apart. This book focuses on the legal process and the trial of the accused, along with many asides that explore the history and unique culture of Isle Madame. Some of these asides go ridiculously off topic and are completely unnecessary. The story of the trial brought back many memories for me of my own experience of jury duty, so my experience reading this book is not typical. Every community has its ne'er-do-wells like Phillip Boudreau, and rarely are they killed by members of their own community. This book does a good job in examining the way that society, law enforcement, and the judicial system fail such people and their victims.
August 28, 2022
This is a thoroughly researched true crime book with a lot of attention to local history and the climate in which the events occurred. It talks of law and justice in ways that make you wonder which interpretation of each word is true - or whether truth has nuance. I talk about my thoughts on this book in this wrap up video.
Read
May 2, 2021I can’t rate this book, as I couldn’t finish it. This is not due to the events, it’s how the book is laid out and just basically how much of it is not about what happened or the trial rather it’s about the area and place. Which is quite confusing when it should be about the people involved. Some of the writing did not make sense and felt slow and laborious. I am afraid it didn’t hold my interest enough. The crime had been done, the people who did the deed had been arrested. It just felt a bit off. Sorry to say I couldn’t finish it.
I would say however it’s very good to look into how trials are run and how the law looks at these sorts of cases. It’s good on that. But not for me.
I would say however it’s very good to look into how trials are run and how the law looks at these sorts of cases. It’s good on that. But not for me.
February 21, 2023
Fascinating read made all the more credible because the author is a local. Not my usual genre and so much more than the story of a murder and the ensuing trial. Rich in back story, Acadian and community history, the context for the crime leaves me just as conflicted as the Petit de Grat locals. The realities of limited resources meant that the police and fisheries ability to effectively protect people from this one-man crime spree (Philip Boudreau) was lacking. Philip spent half his adult life in prison for a wide range of crimes, theft, criminal damage, even rape. He was expert at evading authorities, smart and resourceful kind and generous to some, appalling to others. He was feared and tolerated by his community in equal measure. One of his favorite activities was raiding lobster pots and then damaging them right in front of the owners. Using his faster speed boat the Midnight Slider to keep out of reach of slower fishing boats, taunting the crew. This crime had been brewing and building for well over a decade.
Exactly what happened on the 1st June 2013 we will never know, the Twin Maggies caught up with Philip who was stealing lobster and vandalizing traps as usual. This time, they disabled his boat by shooting and damaging the engine, then rammed and ran over the Midnight Slider. Philip's body was never found and the details of how he died rely on one eye witness statement from a crew member subjected to prolonged interrogation. The details of the trial were the least interesting part of the book for me, the deep dive into Acadian culture and history the most engaging.
"For instance, people don't lock their doors because, as a neighbour once said to me, "If you lock your doors, how can we get in?". They're not coming to make off with you valuables or stifle you in your bed. They're coming in to return a tool or a book, drop off some rhubarb or a loaf of fresh bread, borrow a cup of sugar. Neighbours spontaneously solve one another's problems. If someone neglects to beach a rowboat properly and it's beating on the shore, any passerby will haul it up. If a car's interior light is on, someone closes the door properly so that the light goes off and the battery doesn't run down. This is what we'd come to call"reverse vandalism". You return from a trip and your property has been improved. Your newspapers are stacked neatly at the back door, your plants are watered, and your boat cover is tied down snugly."
Did Philip deserve to be killed? No. Did the authorities fail to prevent his murder? Likely yes. Were the perpetrators of his death provoked beyond the bounds of sanity? Certainly.
Ethical and moral shades of grey permeate all through this well-crafted read.
Exactly what happened on the 1st June 2013 we will never know, the Twin Maggies caught up with Philip who was stealing lobster and vandalizing traps as usual. This time, they disabled his boat by shooting and damaging the engine, then rammed and ran over the Midnight Slider. Philip's body was never found and the details of how he died rely on one eye witness statement from a crew member subjected to prolonged interrogation. The details of the trial were the least interesting part of the book for me, the deep dive into Acadian culture and history the most engaging.
"For instance, people don't lock their doors because, as a neighbour once said to me, "If you lock your doors, how can we get in?". They're not coming to make off with you valuables or stifle you in your bed. They're coming in to return a tool or a book, drop off some rhubarb or a loaf of fresh bread, borrow a cup of sugar. Neighbours spontaneously solve one another's problems. If someone neglects to beach a rowboat properly and it's beating on the shore, any passerby will haul it up. If a car's interior light is on, someone closes the door properly so that the light goes off and the battery doesn't run down. This is what we'd come to call"reverse vandalism". You return from a trip and your property has been improved. Your newspapers are stacked neatly at the back door, your plants are watered, and your boat cover is tied down snugly."
Did Philip deserve to be killed? No. Did the authorities fail to prevent his murder? Likely yes. Were the perpetrators of his death provoked beyond the bounds of sanity? Certainly.
Ethical and moral shades of grey permeate all through this well-crafted read.
October 6, 2022
I found the way this book was written to be rather jarring and disconnected, which made it hard to read. The story moved back and forth between the community and the court room without ever going into any great detail about either and the transition between the two was not done smoothly. You start to read and see the author's point, when there's a break and you are back trying to pick up the thread of what was being said about the community.
In addition, there was a lot of extraneous information about Acadian family and genealogy, which I enjoyed, but which didn't really seem relevant to the story. The line of thought being followed was that the Acadian communities were very old and had their own way of dealing with issues which aren't acknowledged by our modern court system. But this was undercut by the fact that the author himself wasn't Acadian and he kept interjecting small sidelines about people from outside the community who moved there and stayed because they loved it so much. So rather than show a community living by rules older than the modern court system, he was depicting a community in transition whose values and customs were being challenged to include outsiders. So he lost his own theory.
In addition, I found the depiction of the victim, Phillip Boudreau very confusing. Was he an annoying, but essentially harmless scamp who just needed more understanding and guidance. Or was he something much worse. It turns out at the end of the book, where the reader finds out he has a history of violent rapes against women in the community, he was in fact something else and his struggles in school really aren't relevant. I wonder if this important piece of information was kept to the end of the book because the author realized the book he wrote about a sad, mentally slow individual being killed over lobster was not the real story.
In addition, there was a lot of extraneous information about Acadian family and genealogy, which I enjoyed, but which didn't really seem relevant to the story. The line of thought being followed was that the Acadian communities were very old and had their own way of dealing with issues which aren't acknowledged by our modern court system. But this was undercut by the fact that the author himself wasn't Acadian and he kept interjecting small sidelines about people from outside the community who moved there and stayed because they loved it so much. So rather than show a community living by rules older than the modern court system, he was depicting a community in transition whose values and customs were being challenged to include outsiders. So he lost his own theory.
In addition, I found the depiction of the victim, Phillip Boudreau very confusing. Was he an annoying, but essentially harmless scamp who just needed more understanding and guidance. Or was he something much worse. It turns out at the end of the book, where the reader finds out he has a history of violent rapes against women in the community, he was in fact something else and his struggles in school really aren't relevant. I wonder if this important piece of information was kept to the end of the book because the author realized the book he wrote about a sad, mentally slow individual being killed over lobster was not the real story.
January 7, 2021
This book does a great service to a local story that didn't get that treatment from the media.
This in-depth look at the intricacies of village life in Nova Scotia is very accurate from my point of view-- just across the Bay from this community.
Highly readable, this story should interest many including those who know nothing of this criminal case or this region. Cameron has done a fabulous job of weaving the tale while maintaining the integrity of a story about real people and real events; events that are very fresh in the minds of many.
This book broadened my understanding of this situation and also addressed the more universal theme of 'what would you do to protect your family.' You won't know until put to the test.
This in-depth look at the intricacies of village life in Nova Scotia is very accurate from my point of view-- just across the Bay from this community.
Highly readable, this story should interest many including those who know nothing of this criminal case or this region. Cameron has done a fabulous job of weaving the tale while maintaining the integrity of a story about real people and real events; events that are very fresh in the minds of many.
This book broadened my understanding of this situation and also addressed the more universal theme of 'what would you do to protect your family.' You won't know until put to the test.
June 26, 2021
This true crime by Silver Donald Cameron is the fascinating re-telling of the “murder for lobster” case in Nova Scotia. I was sleep-deprived and chasing a toddler around when the murder took place, so I only had a vague memory of this case before picking up the book. What an extraordinary tale, made all the more interesting by Cameron’s own close ties and familiarity with the community. Cameron doesn’t just recite the details of the crime. He expertly reveals the complexities of community life in Acadian Cape Breton and the complicated relationships the “villainous” victim had with both his assailants and the broader community. I always feel a bit uncomfortable saying I “enjoyed” reading a book about tragedy or death, so let me say instead that Cameron will lure you in with this one in the first few pages and won’t let you go til the end.
May 15, 2023
Very informative, the author does a very good job of connecting all the characters and unravelling the many possible motivations. I learned a lot about how the law works and also thought about the problems with the system.
March 7, 2024
Do yourself a favour and listen to this.
Oh, of course I listened to it sped up by .05 or .10 but he is delightful to listen to.
So. Great.
Off to find more narrated by him. Fingers crossed !
Oh, of course I listened to it sped up by .05 or .10 but he is delightful to listen to.
So. Great.
Off to find more narrated by him. Fingers crossed !
January 28, 2022
more like 2.5. a lot of it was focused more on history or the authors personal life than the actual crime.
November 5, 2023
I can’t even really say much, based on a real event, real people and place. However so much random filler! That was just added for filling? Community - yes, treatment of others - yes, what was allowed to transpire in a small community with little recourse from authorities- yes. Filler! However 🥱
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