Boca Moon by Frank Foster, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Frank Foster's debut mystery, Boca Moon, has as its central character the smart, street-wise, and tough Lynn Woo, a former Navy diver, and is set on the southwest Florida island of Boca Grande (about half-way between Tampa and the Everglades), shortened to just "Boca" by its residents.

Three men, who are on Boca Grande for very different reasons, are murdered within a very short time of each other. Millard Savage, the first to die, had come to Boca for a month's vacation with his wife and his father-in-law, Ret. Admiral Whitman Jenkins IV. Next, Sammy Osceola, a full blooded Seminole Indian, had come down to Boca from Tallahassee for a few days to visit with Lynn, his friend from college, and to see his daughter studying at Florida State. Finally there was Aubry Lowe, a fisherman and guide who had lived in Boca his whole life. It is up to the local police force, with the unsolicited help of Lynn, to solve the mystery linking these crimes.

This intriguing book has a lot going for it. The unconventional characters are appealing and Boca Grande is the perfect setting for a mystery. The narrative is fast-paced and the conclusion thrilling. Late in the story, how Lynn escapes from her assailants, finding herself 18 miles off-shore in the cold waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is truly compelling.

The only downside to the book is the author's insistence in relating what each person is wearing at all hours of the day or night, whether they were about to go fishing or getting ready to dine at a fine restaurant. Not only is it distracting, it takes away from the suspense of story he's written.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Boca Moon.