Fisherman's Bend
A
Jane Bunker Mystery
Linda
Greenlaw
Hyperion (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-4013-2235-2 (1401322352)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4013-2235-9 (9781401322359)
Publication Date: July 2008
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): When former Miami homicide
detective Jane Bunker left her big city life for Green Haven, Maine, she
thought she was also leaving behind the pollution, noise, and dead
bodies.
Well — as any New Englander will tell you — two out
of three ain’t bad.
On her way back from a routine investigation into some smashed
equipment, Jane takes a moment to appreciate the beauty of a Maine
autumn — there’s the sublime rainbow foliage of the
highlands, the serene reflections of the setting sun on the
bay’s gentle waves, the elegant silhouette of a lobster boat
on the bay. But her calm lasts only as long as it takes for Jane to
make the chilling discovery that the vessel is in serious trouble with
nobody aboard — and that its owner has vanished without a
trace.
And that’s the least of the mysteries. A young mariner dead
of a heroin overdose; the real agenda of a charismatic Indian leader; a
missing bait iron and a corpse painted red — nothing is what
it seems.
Review:
Marine insurance investigator, and assistant deputy sheriff of coastal
Knox County, Jane Bunker looks into the mysterious disappearance of a
lobsterman whose abandoned boat was found motoring in a circle at sea
in Fisherman's Bend, the second mystery in this series by Linda
Greenlaw, an experienced commercial fisherman in her own right.
When Jane and the captain of her sea transport discover a
well-supplied lobster boat drifting at sea with no one aboard,
they immediately call for a Coast Guard search and rescue. Before the
Coast Guard arrives, however, a small flotilla of lobster boats arrive
to retrieve the traps set by the abandoned boat, relatives of the
missing captain. They seem strangely unconcerned about his
disappearance, assuming the worst and that life goes on. The rescue
operation soon becomes a recovery one and Jane takes responsibility for
locating the body. But what begins as a relatively simple assignment
gets far more complicated when a man is found murdered.
By almost any definition, Fisherman's Bend is a cozy (though to be
fair, there's nary a cat to be seen or heard from, something for which
many readers will be grateful) but the author's fresh take on the
heroine, setting, and even storyline elevates it to something more and
arguably better. Jane's world can be divided into land-based and
sea-based, and it's clear she's more comfortable at sea. The land-based
characters are quirky in a cozy sort of way while the sea-based
characters have a depth and complexity that make them intriguing. The
plot is a simple one but well executed with clues to the mystery of the
missing captain abundantly available yet masked by a series of plot
twists that are both unexpected and welcomed. Readers who look forward
to a long, drawn out denouement will be disappointed, though; the
author wraps everything up very quickly in a thrifty, spare manner
(another aspect of the book that many readers will appreciate). With
titles based on knots, future books in this series are worth looking
forward to.
Special thanks to Authors on the Web for providing an ARC of Fisherman's Bend for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Slipknot
Hyperion (Hardcover), June 2007
ISBN-10: 0-7868-6678-0 (0786866780)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7868-6678-6 (9780786866786)
Fisherman's Bend
Hyperion (Hardcover), July 2008
ISBN-10: 1-4013-2235-2 (1401322352)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4013-2235-9 (9781401322359)
Omnimystery keywords for Fisherman's Bend ...
Location(s) referenced: Maine.