The Secret of Saturday Cove, by Barbee Oliver Carleton

I earlier reviewed Mystery of the Witches’ Bridge, by the same author, an obscure children’s book with a memorable salt marsh setting and Gothic atmosphere. This book, aimed at a slightly younger audience, is sun-drenched and set in Maine, but also features intertwining mysteries of past and present, a lost treasure, a solid ensemble cast, and a vivid setting with tons of atmosphere – in this case, a lobstering community along an archipelago of teeny tiny islands.

The opening of this one has some annoying “you’re just a girl” bickering between David, a twelve-year-old boy who is very excited to have a real job lobstering, and Sally, his little sister, who is probably about ten. Thankfully, the obligatory sexism gets dropped fairly quickly (and Sally gets to be heroic later.) More interestingly, Carleton shows how the island folk will lay on the “Ayuh, I am an old salt lobsterman” schtick for their own purposes, and how it’s also a real community and culture that David desperately wants in on. Add in a solidly plotted mystery, lightly sketched but real-feeling emotions and relationships, and a lot of really great place descriptions, and you have a book I enjoyed as an adult and would have read a zillion times as a kid.

I wish Carleton had written more books.

The Secret of Saturday Cove[image error]. Only 99 cents on Kindle.

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