SOLVED. Mystery Novel With a Shark in the Opening. [s]

[Phil]

Several years ago I came across a novel while walking through a model home (I get bored easily) by a female author who’s name eludes me. I believe the cover was orange and I’m fairly sure it was a mystery novel written in the recent past (from the ‘90s on). I wasn’t paying full attention given where I was, so I don’t remember the plot, but the short prologue intrigued me: it focused on a shark (I think a great white) swimming close to the shore off somewhere on the west coast. It described how it was an older shark and went over its migratory patterns a bit. At the end of the prologue something happened to it and it was injured and possibly killed.

At that point we had to leave the house, and I wasn’t able to write down the title and author. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

[Tab]

Do you remember how many years ago you saw the book?

[Phil]

During 2004. The book looked like it may have been from the '90s at the earliest. I figure since it was being used as model home decor it was probably not new and had been bought secondhand.

[Phil]

Bump

[Kris]

A real long shot - The Old Man: An Emerson Dunn Mystery (1994) by Roy Maynard?

"An Emerson Dunn Mystery: I used to think Great Whites were the meanest sharks alive. But they're nothing compared to hungry loan sharks. Once again I, Emerson Dunn am helpless and confused and feeling like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers."

[Erica]

I'm 99% sure I've solved this one! I hope so as I know how frustrating searching for a certain book can be! I'm sure this is Moonbird Boy by Abigail Padgett. It's a 90s crime/mystery novel, and the edition I read doesn't seem to be listed on Goodreads, but it had an orangey cover with a distorted photo of a cactus. I don't have it to check, but the more I think about it, the more I'm sure that the opening scene was from an old female shark's POV, leading on to a later part of the plot where the shark attack is relevant. It's not mentioned in the Goodreads blurb, but a Google search brings up a few references to the shark element of the plot.

[Erica]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Phil]

Cool - I'll check this out!

[Kate]

Phil, please let us know. We love knowing a book has been solved. And if it isn't solved, let us know and we will keep looking.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Phil, was your book Moonbird Boy or are you still looking?

[Phil]

That was it!

[Kris]

Great. Glad you found your book, Phil. Thanks for the update on Erica's find.