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Mitch Mitchell #1
Icewater Mansions
Meet Michelle "Mitch" Mitchell, a woman who epitomizes the female protagonist of the nineties - and the real woman of the nineties as well. True, not every American woman, no matter how admirable, chooses to work underwater on the oil rigs of the Texas Gulf, but Mitch has been supporting her son by doing just that...
...until the death of her estranged father takes her back to her northern Michigan home on the shores of Lake Huron, where she first learned to brave the deep. She's come simply to sell the saloon old Shannon Mitchell owned and be on her way, but a combination of doubt about the way her father met his death and an unexpected feeling that she has come home keeps her there.
Huron Harbor, Michigan, is a remote community on the shores of the great lake. Its people are sharply individualized and always interesting, if not always pleasant, to know. Allyn takes us to that town in the dead of winter, and holds us in suspense as Mitch revitalizes the saloon, makes friends and unknown enemies, and gets closer to the ugly truth about Shannon's death. And as a breathtaking climax, we go with Mitch into the freezing depths of the lake itself, where she finds that her skill as a diver may protect her from nature's dangers, but there's still the human peril to reckon with.
...until the death of her estranged father takes her back to her northern Michigan home on the shores of Lake Huron, where she first learned to brave the deep. She's come simply to sell the saloon old Shannon Mitchell owned and be on her way, but a combination of doubt about the way her father met his death and an unexpected feeling that she has come home keeps her there.
Huron Harbor, Michigan, is a remote community on the shores of the great lake. Its people are sharply individualized and always interesting, if not always pleasant, to know. Allyn takes us to that town in the dead of winter, and holds us in suspense as Mitch revitalizes the saloon, makes friends and unknown enemies, and gets closer to the ugly truth about Shannon's death. And as a breathtaking climax, we go with Mitch into the freezing depths of the lake itself, where she finds that her skill as a diver may protect her from nature's dangers, but there's still the human peril to reckon with.
247 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1995
6 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Doug Allyn
94 books22 followersDoug Allyn is the author of two previous novels, Motown Underground and The Cheerio Killings, featuring a Detroit police detective as well as the first Mitch Mitchell mystery, Icewater Mansions. A number of his short stories have won national awards, including the 1994 Edgar Award for Best Short Story. His "day job" is a night one; Allyn is a professional musician who travels with his wife, Eve, singer and bass player, and their rock band around the Midwest. The author lives in Montrose, Michigan.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 17, 2018
ICEWATER MANSIONS is an enjoyable quick read with a very surprising ending!
June 3, 2018
Doug Allyn is one of the best, and most-honored, authors of mystery short stories writing now. The first page of the 1996 paperback edition of Icewater Mansions says that Allyn was then a "nine-time Edgar nominee." That was over twenty years ago; Allyn has continued to write and to accumulate more awards and nominations.
Icewater Mansions was Allyn's third novel, and the first one in his series about Michelle Mitchell, known to her friends as Mitch. There have since been two additional Mitchell novels, Black Water (1996) and A Dance in Deep Water (1997).
Mitchell is a single mother, originally from Michigan, who has been working for years in the Gulf of Mexico, deep-water welding on an oil rig. She has now returned to Michigan, where her estranged father has recently died. Her son (who never appears in this book) is in boarding school.
It is mentioned on several occasions that people believed that Mitch's father hadn't been afraid of anything. Her son had recently made a daring rescue, saving another boy from drowning. Mitch herself is shown throughout the book to be rather unrealistically tough and fearless. The only thing that seems to frighten her is the thought of losing her son. Her son's father, who had raped Mitch when she was drunk once as a teenager, is still around in Michigan; he and his family are very wealthy, and now want more contact with the boy, whom they have never met nor shown any regard for.
There are certainly some flaws in the book. I am not sure that I believe that every male Mitch meets seems to desire her. (Of course, part of that may be due to Mitch being the narrator.) Also, I think the solutions to various mysteries here are awfully far-fetched. An early scene involving Mitch and a gangster is also unbelievable. And decisions made by the character Alec are beyond unbelievable.
But there are many good things as well. The portrayal of an animal called Dog, that isn't one, is very winning. And all the scenes involving Lake Huron are fine, particularly a sequence in which Mitch attempts to bring up a body from a sunken ship.
Doug Allyn has written a number of the best mystery short stories I have ever read. Icewater Mansions is the first of Allyn's novels I have read, but will not be the last.
Icewater Mansions was Allyn's third novel, and the first one in his series about Michelle Mitchell, known to her friends as Mitch. There have since been two additional Mitchell novels, Black Water (1996) and A Dance in Deep Water (1997).
Mitchell is a single mother, originally from Michigan, who has been working for years in the Gulf of Mexico, deep-water welding on an oil rig. She has now returned to Michigan, where her estranged father has recently died. Her son (who never appears in this book) is in boarding school.
It is mentioned on several occasions that people believed that Mitch's father hadn't been afraid of anything. Her son had recently made a daring rescue, saving another boy from drowning. Mitch herself is shown throughout the book to be rather unrealistically tough and fearless. The only thing that seems to frighten her is the thought of losing her son. Her son's father, who had raped Mitch when she was drunk once as a teenager, is still around in Michigan; he and his family are very wealthy, and now want more contact with the boy, whom they have never met nor shown any regard for.
There are certainly some flaws in the book. I am not sure that I believe that every male Mitch meets seems to desire her. (Of course, part of that may be due to Mitch being the narrator.) Also, I think the solutions to various mysteries here are awfully far-fetched. An early scene involving Mitch and a gangster is also unbelievable. And decisions made by the character Alec are beyond unbelievable.
But there are many good things as well. The portrayal of an animal called Dog, that isn't one, is very winning. And all the scenes involving Lake Huron are fine, particularly a sequence in which Mitch attempts to bring up a body from a sunken ship.
Doug Allyn has written a number of the best mystery short stories I have ever read. Icewater Mansions is the first of Allyn's novels I have read, but will not be the last.
November 7, 2015
Re-read, and just as good as I remember. I'm usually not a fan of the smart-alec, wise-cracking, kick-a$$ female heroine, but author Doug Allyn makes it work in his character of Mitch.
Solid mystery and great descriptions of deep freshwater diving. Could have done without the raunchy final pages near the end of the book(totally unnecessary and came out of left field). Otherwise, a solid 4 stars.
Solid mystery and great descriptions of deep freshwater diving. Could have done without the raunchy final pages near the end of the book(totally unnecessary and came out of left field). Otherwise, a solid 4 stars.
February 8, 2021
Doug Allyn imbues his main characters with a warmth and intelligence that makes the reader trust them and know they will continue to search for the correct answer to the problem. Like any good mystery writer, Allyn paints characters with a brush of innocence, allowing the reader to make their own tabulations of “who done it.”
I enjoy Allyn’s ability to make me laugh as I read a murder mystery.
“In his scruffy way, Terry looked even better than I remembered. Ralph Lauren peddles that rugged outdoor look for five hundred bucks a pop. Terry owned it as a birthright."
His character’s observations are fun, giving an emotional insight into their past relationship in a few words.
“Had Terry and I blown our chance for the Real Thing all those years ago? Or was I just looking back at puppy love in a rose-colored rearview mirror?”
A good well-told story by a master storyteller. My advice: Read it.
I enjoy Allyn’s ability to make me laugh as I read a murder mystery.
“In his scruffy way, Terry looked even better than I remembered. Ralph Lauren peddles that rugged outdoor look for five hundred bucks a pop. Terry owned it as a birthright."
His character’s observations are fun, giving an emotional insight into their past relationship in a few words.
“Had Terry and I blown our chance for the Real Thing all those years ago? Or was I just looking back at puppy love in a rose-colored rearview mirror?”
A good well-told story by a master storyteller. My advice: Read it.
September 3, 2007
ICEWATER MANSIONS (Suspense-Michigan-Cont) – VG
Allyn, Doug – 1st in series
St. Martin's Press, 1995 – Hardcover
Michelle "Mitch" Mitchell has been a deep-water diver. Upon learning of her father's death, she returns to Michigan to settle his affairs. That turns out to be more difficult than expected when she learns he has been involved in less-than-legal activities, including offering to sell custody to the biological grandfather of Mitch's son.
*** Allyn is a recent discovery for me and am I ever glad I found him. His books are fast-paced and exciting with great characters, both human and animal, excellent sense of place, some great lines and just a touch of the mystical. This was a very good, straight through, don’t-bother-me-now read.
Allyn, Doug – 1st in series
St. Martin's Press, 1995 – Hardcover
Michelle "Mitch" Mitchell has been a deep-water diver. Upon learning of her father's death, she returns to Michigan to settle his affairs. That turns out to be more difficult than expected when she learns he has been involved in less-than-legal activities, including offering to sell custody to the biological grandfather of Mitch's son.
*** Allyn is a recent discovery for me and am I ever glad I found him. His books are fast-paced and exciting with great characters, both human and animal, excellent sense of place, some great lines and just a touch of the mystical. This was a very good, straight through, don’t-bother-me-now read.
May 2, 2022
I finally decided to read the sequels so I reread this first novel. This mystery was 5 star on the first read with plenty of clues and red herrings, and a believable train of thought for the eventual solve. It holds up well to the reread.
January 24, 2018
this book was pretty well written, I just didn't like the underwater scene-- I don't dive for a reason....
I do like the mc tho, off to read the next one in the series!
I do like the mc tho, off to read the next one in the series!
October 9, 2020
This book is a series of one brutal act after another. If you love dogs, do yourself a favor and do not read it.
April 1, 2010
A mystery that I picked up mainly because it was set in Michigan. It was pretty good, though it suffered from some seriously purple prose (the title comes from some of this):
"A while later, the moon went down, yet the Lady [Lake Huron, I think :] continued to luminesce with a spectral phosphoresence of her own, candleglow from emerald chandeliers in the halls of her icewater mansions (p. 17)."
Also, the kickass heroine was a little too tough to believe. But some of the descriptions of the lake and shipwrecks were very cool (though maybe not as good as in Nevada Barr's "A Superior Death", which has scarily preserved bodies in shipwrecks in Lake Superior - adipose fat ewww), and the plot had some good twists. And I'm interested enough in the characters (deepwater diver and single mother Mitch and her son) to pick up the next book in the series.
"A while later, the moon went down, yet the Lady [Lake Huron, I think :] continued to luminesce with a spectral phosphoresence of her own, candleglow from emerald chandeliers in the halls of her icewater mansions (p. 17)."
Also, the kickass heroine was a little too tough to believe. But some of the descriptions of the lake and shipwrecks were very cool (though maybe not as good as in Nevada Barr's "A Superior Death", which has scarily preserved bodies in shipwrecks in Lake Superior - adipose fat ewww), and the plot had some good twists. And I'm interested enough in the characters (deepwater diver and single mother Mitch and her son) to pick up the next book in the series.
October 4, 2014
Michelle aka Mitch can take care of herself. She has been working on oil rigs in the Texas Gulf working underwater. She returns to Huron Harbor, Michigan, after the sudden death of her estranged father. His death was suspicious, at least to her. She takes over running his bar and dive shop. She learns that her father was involved in some less than legal dealings but she wants no part of it. She learns some shocking secrets about her family and her life is in danger several times. This story has good characters, suspense, and interesting details about diving and the northern Great Lakes region.
October 25, 2010
Quick easy read.
March 2, 2011
This isn't a great book but an enjoyable enough read to while away the afternoon.
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August 3, 2018I read this years ago and still think about it. Loved it. I will be reading it again.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews