Sat 3 May 2014
Reviewed by LJ Roberts: KEITH McCAFFERTY – The Gray Ghost Murders.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[8] Comments
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
KEITH McCAFFERTY – The Gray Ghost Murders. Viking, hardcover, February 2013. Penguin, trade paperback, December 2013. PI Novel: Sean Stranahan; 2nd in series. Setting: Contemporary Montana.
First Sentence: The hands shook as the watcher adjusted the focus ring of the binoculars.
Katie Sparrow’s search and rescue dog doesn’t find a reported lost hiker. Instead, they find a buried body which, when uncovered, was a murder victim. And then they find another.
Fly-fishing guide, painter and PI Sean Stranahan is hired to find a lost tackle box. The box is also an entry to his being introduced to the members of the Madison River Liars and Fly Tiers Club; a group of men who bought a cabin along the river. It is they who really want to hire Stranahan to find two valuable fishing flies which have been stolen from their cabin. The trail turns very dark as Sean is asked to help the police with the murders while still searching for the flies.
From the beginning, the author’s love of fly fishing is very apparent. Even if fishing and hunting, are not your style, don’t let that stop you from reading this book for it is the characters that carry the story.
Stranahan may be described as extremely good looking, but that really doesn’t much play into the character. Yes, women are attracted to him, but he is anything but a womanizer, and how refreshing is that. Not only that, there is no profanity in the book; another nice change.
And although he knows how to use a gun, he doesn’t own one. If anything, it is Sherriff Martha Ettinger who comes across as the tougher character, except where her love life is concerned. Then, she is classically vulnerable.
Katie, the dog handler, facilitates moments of humor… “Godfrey, a schoolteacher with a scratch to itch and lay south of his belt buckle and a history of women cutting his fact out of photographs….†What’s nice is that are the characters are clearly drawn and distinct.
McCafferty provides excellent descriptions which help the reader understand the love of fly fishers and give a desire for traveling to Montana… “Above him was one of those summer skies that people who live in the East can’t believe are real, the light over the Gravelly Range lavender bleeding to pink, the clouds rimmed with golden light from the setting sun and the river a study in pointillism, as wavelets bounced colors back and forth…â€
The plot is interesting and compelling. There are layers and twists enough to keep you going. There is a classic short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,†referenced which, if the reader is familiar with the story, gives a hint of the story’s path, but one isn’t certain quite how it’s going to play in. There are characters one suspects, but enough uncertainty to keep one guessing.
The Gray Ghost Murders is a very good read. It kept me involved from first page to last.
Rating: Very Good.
The Sean Stranahan series —
1. The Royal Wulff Murders (2012)
2. The Gray Ghost Murders (2013)
3. Dead Man’s Fancy (2014)
May 3rd, 2014 at 1:56 pm
It’s amazing how much traction you can get out of a seemingly limited specialty like fly fishing, but look what Dick Francis did with horse racing and Douglas Rutherford with cars.
Specialized knowledge about some area seems to help writers organize their minds, especially mystery writers. And of course some writers, like Agatha Christie and P.D. James, have specialties just made for the genre.
May 3rd, 2014 at 6:55 pm
I was trying to think of other fictional PI’s working in Montana without too much success, then it came to me. Duh. James Crumley’s C. W. Sughrue (THE LAST GOOD KISS) and Milo Milodragovitch (THE WRONG CASE, among others). Any more?
May 3rd, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Peter Bowen’s Gabriel Du Pré is a cattle brand inspector in Montana. But his investigating is more on the order of an unlicensed P.I. I’d say. ..
May 3rd, 2014 at 10:59 pm
Close enough to count in my book, Rick.
May 3rd, 2014 at 11:01 pm
I forgot to add that this series by Keith McCafferty is a new one for me, one that seems as though it’ll be worth looking into. Thanks, LJ!
May 4th, 2014 at 12:53 pm
I used to fly fish so I figured I might like the book. What was interesting is that my all-female mystery readers’ group read it as a selection. They all really liked it, as well. A couple people even went on to read his next book. I’d say that’s a true testament to the author’s writing, especially as our group tends to be very critical.
May 7th, 2014 at 9:23 am
I cheated and looked in Hubin and found a series of three books by Sandra West Prowell with a female PI Phoebe Siegel as the main character, published in the 1990s.
May 7th, 2014 at 9:39 am
Right you are, Jamie. I have the three books, and I never even opened them to discover where they take place. Thanks!