Tahoe
Ice Grave
An Owen McKenna
Mystery
Todd Borg
Thriller Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-931296-13-8 (1931296138)
Publication Date: August 2002
List Price: $16.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Early one frigid morning in January a young man named
Thos Kahale walked into the icy waters of Lake Tahoe and died a brutal
death.
It turned into a murder.
Hired to investigate, Owen McKenna learns that the Hawaiian side of the
man's family had a secret shrine hidden in a cave in the cliffs of Kauai. Owen files to Kauai and hears
about a long-lost manuscript that Mark Twain left when he visited Kauai
in 1866.
A priceless manuscript went missing in Hawaii over a century ago.
The manuscript, which would be worth millions, is rumored to have been
lost in a hurricane. Owen suspects that it was hidden in the secret
shrine.
A madman is killing everyone in his way.
As more people die, Owen tracks a vicious killer who looks like a
Viking. Owen follows the Viking back to Tahoe and learns of a cave of
ice that is sacred to Tahoe's Washoe Indians.
The manuscript may have turned up in Tahoe.
The killer has, too...
Thos, who was half Washoe, may have hidden the manuscript in the Tahoe
cave. Only one person, whose identity is unknown, knows the answer.
Owen and his Great Dane Spot have to find that person before the Viking
does and they are running out of time
Review:
Todd Borg's third Owen McKenna thriller, Tahoe Ice Grave,
effectively mixes a literary mystery within a murder mystery.
The book opens with a mesmerizing prologue. Read it twice, it's that
good. These first few paragraphs
serve to set the tone for the book and to introduce this well written
mystery. The literary aspect of the mystery lends an interesting
element to the
otherwise rather ordinary plot. (Mark Twain did spend 4 months in
Hawaii on assignment for the Sacramento Union, visiting Oahu, Maui, and
the Big Island, though there are no published reports that he ever
visited Kauai. It is interesting to speculate that he may have made a
secret journey there with the manuscript referenced in this book.)
Borg's descriptive style of writing
that communicates the cold and dark perspective conveyed by the title and
his detailed depictions of the Tahoe landscape make the book better than the plot would suggest. Overall, Tahoe Ice Grave is
a fine addition to the Owen McKenna mystery series.
Special thanks to Thriller Press for providing a copy of Tahoe Silence for this review.
Review Copyright © 2002 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Tahoe Death Fall
Thriller Press (Trade Paperback), 2001
ISBN-10: 1-931296-11-1 (1931296111)
Tahoe Blowup
Thriller Press (Trade Paperback), 2001
ISBN-10: 1-931296-12-X (193129612X)
Tahoe
Ice Grace
Thriller Press (Trade Paperback), 2002
ISBN-10: 1-931296-13-8 (1931296138)
Tahoe Killshot
Thriller Press (Trade Paperback), 2004
ISBN-10: 1-931296-14-6 (1931296146)
Tahoe Silence
Thriller Press (Trade Paperback), 2007
ISBN-10: 1-931296-15-4 (1931296154)
ISBN-13: 978-1-931296-15-1 (9781931296151)
Omnimystery keywords for Tahoe Ice Grave ...
Location(s) referenced: Kauai, Lake Tahoe, Nevada.