Cary Griffith

A. McCourg

LAKE VERMILION- Cary Griffith’s first trip to Lake Vermilion was in 1969, when his friend’s family bought a cabin on Pine Island and brought Griffith along on a visit.
“I’m from eastern Iowa, and I’ve always been interested in the outdoors,” he said. “But I had never seen country like that. I was blown away.”
Griffith said boating across Big Bay during a starlit night was something he never could forget.
“I was sold,” he said.
Griffith ended up settling in the Twin Cities after doing graduate school at the University of Minnesota, and almost every year since then he has traveled back to that friend’s cabin on Pine Island each spring to fish walleye.
“I write about stuff that I love,” he said. “It was only a matter of time before I set a book there.”
After 34 years working in the corporate world, Griffith retired to take up writing full-time about six years ago.
Griffith is a well-known Minnesota natural history writer, the author of “Lost in the Wild,” about a hiker and canoeist lost in the Boundary Waters and Quetico wilderness areas and their subsequent rescues. He also authored “Gunflint Burning: Fire in the Boundary Waters,” about the Ham Lake Fire and “Gunflint Falling: Blowdown in the Boundary Waters,” about the 1999 blowdown and subsequent rescue of the campers trapped in the wilderness.
But he has also written a series of fiction mysteries, featuring Sam Rivers, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who investigates wildlife-related crimes in Minnesota.
“Dead Catch” is the fourth and newest novel in the Sam Rivers series, following “Wolf Kill,” set on the Iron Range, “Cougar Claw” and “Killing Monarchs,” all set in Minnesota.
“Minnesota has such an abundance and variety of settings to explore,” he said.
His Sam Rivers novels allow Griffith to explore natural science issues. “First and foremost, I want people to be entertained,” he said. “I write about stuff that I love, such as conservation and ecology. My hope is that if you are interested in those things, you’ll be interested in my books. Then I layer in the facts.”
“Dead Catch” brings Sam Rivers up to Lake Vermilion to investigate the death of a conservation officer, found drowned in an underwater net meant to illegally trap walleye. The main suspect is a childhood friend of Rivers, who is found at the scene of the crime, passed out and hypothermic in his boat, in freezing fall weather. The friend, who served time previously for poaching, claims he is innocent, but the evidence points straight at him.
Rivers follows the evidence, which puts himself, along with his trusty wolf-dog hybrid companion, in danger as he works with local sheriffs and DNR officials to solve the crime, not knowing who they can and cannot trust.
Rivers hasn’t been in contact with his friend since they were both 12, after a tragic canoeing accident in the Boundary Waters when he and his friend, Holden Riggens, witnessed Riggens’ father drowning during a fast-moving storm that swamped their canoe.
Griffith’s knowledge of Vermilion, and walleye fishing, will quickly gain the attention of area readers. While he has changed some names of towns and islands, the general geography of Vermilion will be clear to readers, even though some names have been changed.
“I did play a little loose and fast with some of the geography of the lake,” he admitted. “I took some poetic license.” But the thrill of a night-time boat chase around the back of Pine (called Temple in the book) Island will be worth it for readers, as Rivers and his local law enforcement partner try to catch up with the real killers. And the crime, it turns out, is more complicated than just poaching.
Griffith said the book is all fiction, and the plot is not based on any actual poaching ring on the lake, but it gave him a chance to highlight the wildlife and beauty of the area.
His next book in the Sam Rivers series is set to come out next year, “Rattlesnake Bluff,” which is set in the driftless area of southeastern Minnesota.
Griffith is looking forward to bringing his four young grandchildren up to Vermilion, once they are a little older. His three grown sons all got to spend time on the lake when they were growing up. He spent time on Pine Island in June, for his annual trip up north.
Griffith has won a Minnesota Book Award, and a Midwest Book Award. His books are sold locally at Piragis in Ely, or through online retailers. He is hoping to do a book signing at Piragis sometime in the future.