The Keys: Voice of the Turtle
The Keys: Voice of the Turtle by Karen Hulene Bartell[image error]
Ruth and her fiancé Brett visit her cousin Keya in the Florida Keys. While Brett goes on a fishing trip with his buddies, his cousin Auggie Erskine entertains them and begins a romance with Keya. In the first chapter Ruth and Keya find the body of Maita on the beach of the property Keya inherited from her late husband, Jules Erskine. She wants to preserve the property for the Turtle Refuge and has a nest marked on the beach to protect it until the loggerhead turtles hatch. Her husband’s cousins are trying to claim the property in a deal with the neighbor, Gerald Granger, who wants to turn it into a beachfront hotel.
Auggie could be a bad guy because he is also a cousin in the lawsuit and Bartell adds more than than one bad guy to the story to keep the reader guessing. Keya has the ability to talk to animals such as her cat and the sea turtles at the refuge who need medical care. Ruth can see ghost when she touches something they had in their possession. Not only does she see Maita’s ghost, she sees the ghost of Bartolome Garcia de Castillo who went down on a ship loaded with treasure.
This cozy mystery has a cat and dog and adds a romance and ghosts along with recipes in the back of the book. Bartell writes a story with descriptive scenery, delicious food, and local history that educates the reader as well as entertains. Bartell is able to keep the pages turning with plenty of surprises and whether Keya will be able to keep her property and save the turtles.
Bartell limits the number of characters so the reader won’t need to keep notes, although you may want to jot down some of the sites and visit them on your next trip to Florida. She uses the ghosts wisely, limiting their input in small doses as Ruth and Keya figure out what is going on. Movie fans will recall “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” as Ruth records the adventures of Bartolome.
Bartell maintains the two women’s amateur sleuth status using their peculiar powers since they can’t go to the police with things revealed to them by animals and ghosts. She also adds spirituality to help the ghosts move on at the end and resolve some of the issues the two women face.
Add Bartell to your lists of authors to read and for writers, she shows how to combine different genres and weave them into a tale that will satisfy a wide range of readers.
