Blood in the Water

A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes

By: Silver Donald Cameron

Narrated by: David Ferry

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 neighbor, 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 neighbor 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?

©2020 Silver Donald Cameron (P)2020 Penguin Random House Canada

Critic reviews

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

WINNER of the 2021 Atlantic Book Awards' Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award for Non-Fiction

SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book

HONOURABLE MENTION for the John Lyman Book Award in Canadian Naval and Maritime History

One of The Globe’s “100 Favourite books of 2020”

“Fascinating! Blood in the Water . . . provides deep insights into how communities work: how they succeed, [and] how they can fail. Must-read for all concerned about how humans manage to live together. Or not.” —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter

"An instant true crime classic." —Publishers' Weekly **starred review**

“Silver David Cameron knew intimately the Cape Breton community where the brutal murder of a local who was vandalizing lobster traps took place. But instead of that insider knowledge giving him too narrow a focus, it enables him to see beyond the broad strokes of the story—and so bring to life ideas about power, law, vigilantism and community.” —Toronto Star

Law

This yet another fine example of the author’s work. I hadn’t recalled this story but as I read the details became familiar. Enjoy this story and the narrator. All good.
I met the author years back by accident and had a wonderful evening with him and others telling stories and surviving maritime life. Good fun