Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "mystery"

The Bloody Black Flag: A Spider John Mystery by Steve Goble

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


All Spider John Rush wants is to see his wife and child in Nantucket, but fate always draws him back to the sea and piracy. Such is the case when he and his friend Ezra reach Boston. To evade the law, they must accept an offer to join Captain William Barlow’s Plymouth Dream. These pirates need of able mariners like Ezra, but they especially prize John’s carpentry skills. Although old hands with the sweet trade, joining a band already formed means he and Ezra are outsiders. Further alienating them from the others is a tattooed man, who knows the blood of a witch runs through Ezra’s veins. Having survived the sinking of a ship on her maiden voyage makes him an even greater pariah.

Unlike other pirate ships, Captain Barlow runs Plymouth Dream with an iron fist. He’s not opposed to listening to others, but he and only he makes the decisions. He puts no store in superstitious drivel, so as long as Spider and Ezra do what is expected, they are welcome aboard his ship.

Soon after they depart New England waters, Spider John finds Ezra dead. The consensus is that his death is the result of over-imbibing and melancholy. John knows there is nothing accidental or suicidal about his friend’s demise, but aboard a ship of cutthroats, only a fool starts slinging accusations of murder around. Spider vows to find the killer and make him pay. Solving the crime with only two clues – knowing the killing device was made from the wood of an apple tree and the silver flask left to disguise the death – further complicates his task, especially since he must find the killer before they reach their destination. To help him in his search, he enlists the help of Hob, the young cabin boy who goes everywhere on the ship without raising undue attention. The more they hunt, the more names are added to the suspect list. As if the fates are amused by Spider’s fruitless investigation, they spice it up with a phantom frigate that doggedly pursues the Plymouth Dream and the theft of a priceless object that Barlow intended to sell to a mysterious Frenchman.

The Bloody Black Flag is the first tale in the Spider John Mystery series. Spider is more a thinker, than a man of brawn and action, although readers who prefer ship chases, boarding prey, and mutinies will find those woven into the warp and weft of this tapestry. The wide variety of characters makes for an interesting cast, all of whom are running away or hiding from something. Figuring out which is the murderer will keep readers guessing until the end, and it may be as surprising to them as it is to Spider. Goble expertly weaves pirate lore into this historical mystery and his gift of words easily transports us back to October 1722 and the deck of the Plymouth Dream.




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Spider by Leah Devlin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book two in The Chesapeake Tugboat Murders returns readers to the quiet town of Glen River in the Upper Chesapeake Bay. This is a sleepy place filled with quirky residents except for once a year when they celebrate one of their founding fathers – Giles Blood-hand, a notorious pirate who settled here in the 1600s with many of his fellow pirates. They brought with them an enormous treasure comprised of emeralds, rubies, pearls, gold, and silver, initially stolen from Spaniards and later taken from another pirate, Bartholomew Dodd, whom they left for dead before sailing north. These buccaneers became fishermen, carpenters, and farmers and their treasure was cached in a secret place and used when needed. Descendants of the original pirates include Alex Allaway, a marine biologist with a phobia of spiders, and Will Wilkins, a detective with a young daughter. They oversee this stash of valuables, doling it out when necessary and protecting it from the many treasure hunters searching for it. Alex and Will also have an on-again off-again affair, because Alex’s unusual upbringing makes her reticent to take the plunge.

Nina Vega, who was Alex’s college roommate, has moved to Glen River to teach at nearby Tolchester College. Not only does she wish to become a full professor of sociology, but she also needs to expand the parameters of her research on fishing communities. Soon her arrival, she and Alex go boating on the bay aboard Alex’s tugboat Vital Spark. Shortly after Alex points out an abandoned cottage on a cliff overlooking the Chesapeake, a woman steering a yacht causes a near accident. The ensuing waves crash ashore and topple the house from its precarious perch; once the waves subside, Nina and Alex discover that several bodies were buried under the house.

Glen River’s chief detective, Jay Braden, arrives with his partner Will, the medical examiner, and a forensics team. The investigation turns up several interesting facts. Only one body shows signs of foul play. No one has seen the owner of the cottage in years, but the property taxes have been paid regularly. Among the detritus found on the surrounding land are rope, tape, and cylinders with holes in the top that might have been used to store creatures. The identities of the dead are unknown, but as Lisa Paco – the police force’s gum-chewing mystery buff who’s a wiz at researching on the computer – delves deeper into these mysteries, she begins to suspect that one of the deceased may be her father, who went missing many years ago. If correct, her mother may be the murderer and there is no way Lisa will ever let “the best mother in the world” be arrested.

The nuisance yachter is Pamela Dodd, whom the residents see as a successful model who comes every summer with her current boy toys to hunt for treasure. (She oversees while the guys do all the work.) While her hunt for this pirate hoard is real, her reasons are known only to herself. She’s actually the multi-great granddaughter of Bartholomew Dodd, the rightful owner of the pirate treasure. Now that he’s long dead, it belongs to her. When Alex plays a trick on her to discourage her hunting, it brings Alex directly into Pamela’s crosshairs and no matter what she must do, Pamela intends to locate and seize the treasure for herself.

Unlike the first title in the series, which was predominantly Alex’s story, Spider centers more on Nina and the college. On her first day of work, she ends up in the hospital after a roof slate slices off her finger, resulting in the loss of her engagement ring. Not only must she adapt to this injury, but she also must adjust to the realities of her new job – out-of-date technology, a crumbling office building badly in need of repairs, and a president and her staff (the Weird Sisters) who seem far more interested in meeting quotas and adhering to rules than they do with learning and research. And just when Nina needs him the most, her fiancé, who hasn’t yet arrived in Glen River, goes strangely silent.

Spider is as much a tale of relationships and interactions as it is about miscommunication and misinterpretation. It also ably demonstrates the extreme lengths some people are willing to go to when trying to locate legendary gold or to protect those they love. Devlin does a fantastic job spinning the disparate threads into an intricately woven mystery that’s a challenge to solve. The many twists and turns mirror a demented mind of keen intelligence. Only the lack of good proofreading, especially in the last third of the book, mars this whodunit where even the weapon is as offbeat as the unique characters populating Glen River.




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The Lockwoods of Clonakilty by Mark Bois

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


According to the doctors, he should be dead, but God and Lieutenant James Lockwood have other plans. Wounded at Waterloo, he returns to Clonakilty, Ireland to begin the slow road to recovery. His beloved wife, Brigid, and his five children, as well as their housekeeper, tend to his needs and get reacquainted with him after his long absence fighting the French. But the Ireland he left is not the same, and the peace he so desperately seeks is elusive. Rebels violently interrupt a dinner party at his father’s house and taunting letters threaten his family.

Charles Barr, once a captain in the British army, has been court-martialed and dismissed from service. He blames Lockwood for his disgrace – an added layer to the enmity he already feels for the lieutenant who married Brigid, the woman Barr wanted for his own. His jealousy and hatred intermingle with the syphilis attacking his body and he soon begins a downward spiral into violent madness. He sets in motion a vindictive plan to destroy not only James and Brigid, but their children as well.

Cissy Lockwood, the middle daughter and a lovely young woman, is caught between the English and the Irish. She’s half of each in blood, but a Catholic in a country where a minority of Protestants lord it over the native inhabitants. The local priest attempts to sway her to the rebels’ side, which only raises her ire. Change may be coming and she will soon have to decide where she stands, but she refuses to spy on family and friends.

Horrific accusations are made that threaten James’s career and his marriage. To avoid a terrible scandal, he is offered a position in India with the East India Company. Accepting the offer means permanent exile. To refuse means not only his arrest, but that of his wife as well. Cissy remains in Clonakilty to take care of their ailing housekeeper – a decision that puts her in grave danger because she’s the only one still accessible to Charles Barr.

The Lockwoods of Clonakilty is the second book in a series, but easily works as a stand-alone volume that transports you back to Ireland before the Great Famine. Bois’s three-dimensional characters sweep you into their lives, and he deftly guides them to a riveting climax filled with interesting twists. Like the seanachaís of his ancestors, Bois spins a tale that draws you into an inescapable web where unraveling the mystery and hate-filled vengeance of a madman becomes as vital as food and drink.




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Daughters of the Storm by Joan Druett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When Helen Pederson enters the room at her estranged husband’s California estate, she expects to learn what hostess duties he needs her to perform this time. Instead, she is confronted by six individuals who together stir up a two-decades-old nightmare. Two she knows well. Her husband, Harold Pederson, runs the wealthy family empire that his grandfather founded. Once he makes a decision, it’s impossible to change his mind. The second is their daughter, Jewel, who suffers from a congenital mental illness that manifests itself in angry tantrums that have become more violent as she ages.

The other four people are Skye Hamilton, Maggie Bacchante, Jack Giacomo, and Kate Giacomo. Skye is the business manager of Bacchante Wines. Maggie, whose family owns the winery, is an up-and-coming fashion designer. Although they are not related, she and Kate look amazingly like twins and they grew up together. Kate is a bestselling author. Her adopted father, Jack, is a well-known fireman who specializes in fighting oil well fires.

Twenty years ago, in the midst of a hurricane, three babies were born: Jewel, Kate, and Maggie. Three little girls. Three identical cribs. Amid the chaos, no labels identified who was who or which baby belonged to which mother. Now, Harold wants to know which is truly his daughter. He has a plan to learn the truth – sail to the Pacific island where the hurricane hit – and he has the money to insure that no one refuses to accompany him on the cruise.

Druett steps away from her traditional historical fiction to craft a modern-day mystery. Her characters are well-developed and unique from each other, in spite of the similarities between Kate and Maggie. A shady sailing boat, a kidnapping, unexpected deaths, odd financial manipulations, a peculiar assistant, Jewel’s tantrums, and a brewing hurricane add further spice to the suspense. Stirring up the past is never a good idea and doing so often results in unintended consequences as Daughters of the Storm clearly demonstrates in a fashion similar to Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. Readers who enjoy this first offering in the Bacchante series will eagerly await the next book, Storm Swept.




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