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Cape Perdido #3
Cape Perdido
- Muller's McCone series has consistently received strong reviews from national publications, including the "New York Times Book Review, San Francisco Chronicle, and USA TODAY, among others. "Dead Midnight was published by Warner in 7/03 and hit the "Los Angeles Times bestseller list, grossing over 76,000 copies.- Marcia Muller is the recipient of the Private live Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award. All the Sharon McCone novels and Muller's two previous stand-alones were Main Selections of The Mystery Guild.- "Wolf in the Shadows (Warner, 2001) was nominated for an Edgar Award and won the Anthony Boucher Award.
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published July 1, 2006
29 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Marcia Muller
165 books723 followersMarcia Muller is an American author of mystery and thriller novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
August 27, 2007
CAPE PERDIDO (Amateur Sleuth-Northern Calif-Cont) – VG
Muller, Marcia – Standalone
Mysterious Press, 2005- Hardcover
Cape Perdido is a small town in Northern California which has a clear, cold water river held in Public Trust. The town's main industry once was lumber, but when Timothy McNear closed the mill, tourism became the income source. Now a group wants to siphon off a large percentage of Perdido's water every year to ship to Southern California. To combat this, the town has brought in ecologists and environmentalist Joseph Openshaw, a native of Perdido. But the strife leads to a murder and awakens secrets from the past.
*** This is a true ensemble cast with each chapter focused on one of the four main characters, each a native of the town. Although they are interesting, it's one of the secondary characters, Jessie Domingo, a young environmentalist from New York, who really captured my interest. The story is well written and involving with good suspense at the end. I read it straight through in one evening. Muller really knows how to tell a story.
Muller, Marcia – Standalone
Mysterious Press, 2005- Hardcover
Cape Perdido is a small town in Northern California which has a clear, cold water river held in Public Trust. The town's main industry once was lumber, but when Timothy McNear closed the mill, tourism became the income source. Now a group wants to siphon off a large percentage of Perdido's water every year to ship to Southern California. To combat this, the town has brought in ecologists and environmentalist Joseph Openshaw, a native of Perdido. But the strife leads to a murder and awakens secrets from the past.
*** This is a true ensemble cast with each chapter focused on one of the four main characters, each a native of the town. Although they are interesting, it's one of the secondary characters, Jessie Domingo, a young environmentalist from New York, who really captured my interest. The story is well written and involving with good suspense at the end. I read it straight through in one evening. Muller really knows how to tell a story.
December 7, 2010
Third of Muller's recent, hmmm, what the inside pages describe as "non series books" but that seem like a loosely coupled series to me. They are all set in the same area of North California and all have placename titles and a few of the same characters play bit parts.
I don't enjoy these as much as the McCone books. This one was interesting but ultimately seemed quite lightweight. The characters are well drawn and the plot isn't bad but it never quite lit my fire all the same.
August 15, 2022
The issue of water and who should have access to it, is the premise of this book — this third in a series centered at various points in Soledad County, California.
An out-of-state company is seeking to pump the Perdido river and export the water. The company officials have already gotten the approval of the owner of the old lumber mill, to use the land as part of the plan.
Now they are waiting for official word from the state water board. Meanwhile residents of the town of Perdido are not giving up hope and they have connected with the nonprofit Environmental Consultants Clearinghouse as represented by Jessie Domingo and lawyer and water law expert Fitch Collier. And they don't like each other.
Graffiti is spray painted on the rental cars of the officials from Aqueduct Systems. A public meeting goes badly as a sniper fires at a display of the gigantic bags created to carry the water from the area. The lumber mill is torched and then people start to disappear.
There is much more than water rights being fought and its only by diligence that Jesse Domingo begins to see the light.
Cape Perdido, like its predecessors Point Deception and Cyanide Wells, are far darker than her Muller's long-running Sharon McCone series. Perhaps because in each story the only returning character is sheriff's deputy Rhoda Swift, and she doesn't have a central role in any of them. These are communities struggling to survive, people who have gotten tough by growing up and growing older where their dreams have crumbled, much like the communities where they reside. And what happens all too often brings up old secrets that have been festering too long.
And that is perhaps the attraction for these tense, dramatic tales. There is mystery, crime, suspense that leaves the reader wondering just what has happened and why. It sure kept me glued to the pages — something I almost never do with the McCone series, although the mysteries in those books are good. There's a grittiness to these tales, these individuals and it makes for good reading.
An out-of-state company is seeking to pump the Perdido river and export the water. The company officials have already gotten the approval of the owner of the old lumber mill, to use the land as part of the plan.
Now they are waiting for official word from the state water board. Meanwhile residents of the town of Perdido are not giving up hope and they have connected with the nonprofit Environmental Consultants Clearinghouse as represented by Jessie Domingo and lawyer and water law expert Fitch Collier. And they don't like each other.
Graffiti is spray painted on the rental cars of the officials from Aqueduct Systems. A public meeting goes badly as a sniper fires at a display of the gigantic bags created to carry the water from the area. The lumber mill is torched and then people start to disappear.
There is much more than water rights being fought and its only by diligence that Jesse Domingo begins to see the light.
Cape Perdido, like its predecessors Point Deception and Cyanide Wells, are far darker than her Muller's long-running Sharon McCone series. Perhaps because in each story the only returning character is sheriff's deputy Rhoda Swift, and she doesn't have a central role in any of them. These are communities struggling to survive, people who have gotten tough by growing up and growing older where their dreams have crumbled, much like the communities where they reside. And what happens all too often brings up old secrets that have been festering too long.
And that is perhaps the attraction for these tense, dramatic tales. There is mystery, crime, suspense that leaves the reader wondering just what has happened and why. It sure kept me glued to the pages — something I almost never do with the McCone series, although the mysteries in those books are good. There's a grittiness to these tales, these individuals and it makes for good reading.
April 2, 2024
This is the story of a small town in Northern California. There are problems because a company plans to take the river water that sustains the town and send it to Southern California. There are several interesting characters and a history that goes back 20+ years.
November 13, 2017
A nice light, quick read.
June 3, 2020
This was an excellent mystery; really enjoyable. It was a very intriguing story; a real page turner!
September 7, 2020
Brilliant
March 16, 2021
Too many characters introduced too quickly. Pace of plot was slow, picked up, and then was over.
October 5, 2021
Third in this series
A good job keeping the reader guessing until the end. Small town in California under pressure from a corporation wanting to drain their fresh water river…
A good job keeping the reader guessing until the end. Small town in California under pressure from a corporation wanting to drain their fresh water river…
April 29, 2024
Fun, fast mystery Very enjoyable
February 15, 2025
Great mystery.
August 14, 2018
Good book. Thought it was part of the Sharon McCone series. Kept waiting for her to show up. It didn't happen, but it was still a good story.
A riveting mystery full of atmosphere and suspense, this tale explores the dark heart of a small town where passion-and murder-runs as deep as the river that flows through it... Amid ancient redwoods and sun-dappled reeds, the Perdido River runs clear and cold from the mountains of Soledad County to the blue Pacific. A wildlife refuge and a pristine recreational area, the river brings tourists to the old lumber town of Cape Perdido...and flows through the memories and hearts of the rugged people who have settled there since the Gold Rush days. Now that is about to change. An out-of-state corporation wants to pump the river nearly dry and float the water to southern California's thirsty cities in huge rubber rafts. With lobbyists, lawyers, and dirty tricks, the company intends to get what it wants-any way it can. Against this corporate Goliath, a community protest group and four unusual individuals are drawing a line in the sand. Flying in from New York City, ecologist Jessie Domingo hopes to grab headlines for her cause. Environmentalist Joseph Openshaw has come back to the home, and the secrets, he left behind decades ago. His former lover, local restaurateur Steph Pace, fears both the emotions and the ghosts arriving to haunt her. And old man Timothy McNear, owner of the defunct mill that once employed most of the town, silently broods about the sins he has hidden for too long. But no one envisions what will happen when the crack of a sniper's bullet sets off a chain of desperate acts. As the peace of this small town is shattered, murder stains Cape Perdido, and one by one, those who stand tall for a cause may be swept away by the current of a town's ugly truths-and a killer's revenge.
A riveting mystery full of atmosphere and suspense, this tale explores the dark heart of a small town where passion-and murder-runs as deep as the river that flows through it... Amid ancient redwoods and sun-dappled reeds, the Perdido River runs clear and cold from the mountains of Soledad County to the blue Pacific. A wildlife refuge and a pristine recreational area, the river brings tourists to the old lumber town of Cape Perdido...and flows through the memories and hearts of the rugged people who have settled there since the Gold Rush days. Now that is about to change. An out-of-state corporation wants to pump the river nearly dry and float the water to southern California's thirsty cities in huge rubber rafts. With lobbyists, lawyers, and dirty tricks, the company intends to get what it wants-any way it can. Against this corporate Goliath, a community protest group and four unusual individuals are drawing a line in the sand. Flying in from New York City, ecologist Jessie Domingo hopes to grab headlines for her cause. Environmentalist Joseph Openshaw has come back to the home, and the secrets, he left behind decades ago. His former lover, local restaurateur Steph Pace, fears both the emotions and the ghosts arriving to haunt her. And old man Timothy McNear, owner of the defunct mill that once employed most of the town, silently broods about the sins he has hidden for too long. But no one envisions what will happen when the crack of a sniper's bullet sets off a chain of desperate acts. As the peace of this small town is shattered, murder stains Cape Perdido, and one by one, those who stand tall for a cause may be swept away by the current of a town's ugly truths-and a killer's revenge.
September 6, 2011
Cape Perdido in Northern California is a wildlife refuge and and tourist area where the Perdido River enters the Pacific. A N. Carolina company, Aqueduct International, has applied for permission to bag the waters of the Perdido River into huge plastic bags two hundred fifty feet long and float them to southern California. Timothy McNear, wealthy owner of the now defunct lumber mill had given permission to use his land for the pipes Jessie and Fitch have come to Perdido to consult from Environmental Consultants Clearing House to help the locals fight the project. There are secrets which come to the surface as well as dishonesty and murder. The story is exciting and clever.
August 30, 2016
The premise of this story could be the future. Water resources are becoming scarce, and conflict about their use will not be unusual. In this story, a firm is trying to "harvest" water in Norhtern California to sell in the Southern part of the State. Local people are up in arms in opposition. The kicker is that some of the characters share a 30 year old secret, and their motivations are influenced by that. Given the McCone books I had previously read, I was expecting a police procedural, but there was hardly any police involvement in the story. Rather, the characters had to fumble their way to the resolution, which was quite unexpected.
December 2, 2016
The book was written in lots of short chapters or sections. Each section was titled with a character's name as that chapter was from their perspective.
The story is about the struggle between several groups in a small town in northern California. One group supports a company that wants to pump water out of a river and take it to southern California. The other group opposes them. Outsiders are brought in, violence erupts and some of the main characters are dealing with an incident from many years ago. One of the outsiders goes missing and the hunt is on for him and the reason behind his disappearance. This leads to others being in danger and some ugly truths being revealed.
The story is about the struggle between several groups in a small town in northern California. One group supports a company that wants to pump water out of a river and take it to southern California. The other group opposes them. Outsiders are brought in, violence erupts and some of the main characters are dealing with an incident from many years ago. One of the outsiders goes missing and the hunt is on for him and the reason behind his disappearance. This leads to others being in danger and some ugly truths being revealed.
December 20, 2014
In the third installment of the Point Deception series by Marcia Muler, Cape Perdido, she took us another fantastic mystery. This time, when a greedy North Carolina corporation seeks to harvest water from a peaceful California lumber town of Cape Perdido, that's when Jessie Domingo, a PR and community relations consultant and Fitch Collier, an arrogant lawyer who specialized in water rights, they team up to fight against the interloper. For this battle, it unleashed violence and a secret of its path on its way.
November 22, 2011
Definitely not one of Ms Muller's better books. The characters were well drawn but there were too many of them thrown at the reader far too rapidly. The overall plot seemed more fitting to a short story or novella than a full length novel (though perhaps it was a novella afterall since only about half the pages were full of text.)
By the time the "big secret" came out, it actually hit me as a let down because of all the build up through the book. Maybe I'm jaded, but I thought "Damn is that all it was?"
By the time the "big secret" came out, it actually hit me as a let down because of all the build up through the book. Maybe I'm jaded, but I thought "Damn is that all it was?"
February 9, 2009
Cape Perdido is a small logging town down on it's luck, but nobody wants to sell out to the water miners who come from Carolina who want to bag the water from there river and ship it to Los Angeles. The tensions are running high and into the fray breaks a cold case of a twenty-year-old murder.
Marica Muller has a keen grasp of character development as told through the eyes of the people who live the story.
Marica Muller has a keen grasp of character development as told through the eyes of the people who live the story.
February 5, 2009
lots of good stuff, like the Northern California stuff and the fictional county between Mendocino and Humboldt. Of course, if it were in that location, it would be prime dope-growing real estate and that should have been in the book, but what the hell.
A good entertaining mystery, like I expect from MM.
A good entertaining mystery, like I expect from MM.
February 25, 2009
A little surprising that this was not better. Usually Ms. Muller is so good at building suspense and the big reveal is a shocker, but I figured this one out very quickly, so it was a bit of a disappointment.
August 28, 2014
Decent mystery dealing with a 20 year old crime that bleeds into a current situation where a company is attempting to take water from CA in huge bladders and float them elsewhere to sell---very up-to-date topic this summer.
October 8, 2007
07/30/05 #129
TITLE/AUTHOR: CAPE PERDIDO by Marcia Muller
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PAGES: Mystery, 2005,305 pgs
TITLE/AUTHOR: CAPE PERDIDO by Marcia Muller
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PAGES: Mystery, 2005,305 pgs
Currently reading
July 22, 2009A little slow, but I like the setup.
October 30, 2012
http://mostlyfiction.com/mystery/mull...
The above link has my review for MostlyFiction.com
The above link has my review for MostlyFiction.com
December 7, 2012
It was good, but not great.
August 8, 2012
So-so mystery. I used to like Muller, but I couldn't get interested in this one about water rights in the northwest.
March 5, 2016
This book was terrible -- I was bored to tears. Don't know why I persisted, but I kept thinking it would get better. It didn't.
December 24, 2014
Lots of drama when ecologists faceoff with waterbaggers.
November 30, 2011
OK for a mystery, not as good as the McCones.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews