John Straley: Cold Water Burning

Bantam Books (Hardcover), ISBN: 0-553-10643-0

If you haven’t enjoyed the honor in one of Straley’s five previous books, please, allow me to introduce Cecil Younger, a very unlikely and totally extraordinary PI/philosopher/hero with a gentle heart. Self-deprecating and without a pompous bone in his body, Cecil says of himself: “It could be argued that being a private investigator in a small Alaskan town is one of the worst career decisions a person with a high-school diploma can make.” Perhaps, Cecil speaks the truth, but life in Sitka keeps him hopping.

Cecil worked on a case involving a mass murderer. The jury set the man free. The accused man — who agreed to be interviewed by one of the scandal mongering media for a hundred thousand dollars — disappears, taking with him half of the money. His distraught wife wants Cecil to find him. Plus, the case for which the man was tried remains unsolved. Meanwhile a huge storm hovers off the coast, readying itself to swoop in and batter Sitka and the sea before it, destroying boats and lives. Then the missing man’s wife turns up dead, shot by a cop. As death follows death, Cecil takes on more than his share of guilt and grief, and this reader ached right along with him.

The characters — endearing, eccentric, twisted and somehow universal — exude life and complexity. They people the town with verisimilitude. Even the storm, a killer in more ways than one, becomes a real character.

Is it a suspense, mystery or mainstream? I can’t answer that question. I cudgeled my brain, trying without success, to decide how to categorize Cold Water Burning. Call it one of a kind — and superb.

Patricia Lucas White

Patricia Lucas White’s latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I’ve Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.