LINDA GREENLAW has steered her successful career as a lobster boat captain in Maine's coastal waters into an equally successful second career as a best-selling author. Readers will devour her new novel, "Fisherman's Bend," a fast-paced murder mystery laced with realistic references to fishing and sailing that enhance the story.
Greenlaw expertly blends her vast knowledge of the sea with a masterful ability to write both fiction and nonfiction. She continues to reel in readers, some of whom may have enjoyed her earlier successes, which include "The Hungry Ocean" and "The Lobster Chronicles," well-deserved best-sellers.
"Fisherman's Bend" reprises some of the characters introduced in Greenlaw's first fiction novel, "Slipknot."
Jane Bunker, a Florida transplant now living in the small coastal town of Green Haven, Maine, has jumped ship on her career as a Miami homicide detective to work as a marine insurance investigator. Jane has also agreed to serve as Green Haven's deputy sheriff, making the most of her apparently magnetic attraction to criminal activity. Keeping an eye on Jane is Cal, a taciturn 70-year-old fisherman, who knows she can get herself into a jam. Green Haven's sassy cafe owner, Audrey, dishes while she dishes. Jane's watchful landlords, the Vickersons, are consistently quirky as they experiment with mussels at every meal. New characters are many, each one a believable suspect in the emerging murder mystery.
The story begins with Jane's assignment by the insurance company to investigate a vandalized research boat. She finds it curious that only the undersea archaeological equipment has been damaged.
Although she'd like to explore the topic with the attractive captain, she's referred to an expert scientist with nervous tics. As she and Cal cross the harbor on their return, they discover an abandoned fishing boat carving circular patterns in the water as it motors without its captain. Jane begins another investigation, this time as deputy sheriff. When she becomes a target for violence, she knows she's on the right track. Jane's investigative abilities will be challenged to determine whether Green Haven's recent crimes are related and who is trying to stop her.
Greenlaw's descriptions of coastal Maine will resonate with readers familiar with that region. For those who have read all of Greenlaw's books, the only negative aspect to finishing "Fisherman's Bend" is that we have to wait for her next one. Let's hope it comes soon.
Diane Makovsky is a freelance reviewer in Spotsylvania County.
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