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My wife Kay and I got turned on to Florida mysteries reading the Travis McGee series by the godfather of the genre, John D.MacDonald. We even owned a big red Doberman we named Travis McGee. A few years ago, Kay started to collect first editions and now the house is full of them. These are books Kay and I have read and enjoyed and we hope you will too. Here is my latest book review from Go Riverwalk Magazine.
Bitter End by Christine Kling
A Seychelle Sullivan Mystery Ballantine Books, 2005
It was a cold morning on the New River when Seychelle Sullivan piloted her salvage tug Gorda toward the Andrews Avenue Bridge. Ahead of her she could see the Mykonos, a 50-foot Hatteras owned by sandwich shop and gambling cruise ship owner, Nick Pontus.
Suddenly, a shot rings out... So begins Christine Kling's latest Fort Lauderdale-set mystery, the third in her hard-cover Seychelle Sullivan series. Kling is a Fort Lauderdale resident and graduate of Florida International University's highly regarded Creative Writing Program.
If you love a mystery and love Fort Lauderdale, (or just live here) you will thoroughly enjoy following the adventures of Seychelle Sullivan, owner of a maritime salvage business inherited from her father who chose to name his children after islands. Seychelle has a brother named Mad(agascar.) She also has all the characteristics of a good mystery heroine: a business that exposes her to crime and violence, a mixed-up love life, a knack for sticking her nose into matters most of us conventional folk would leave to the police, and an exciting setting, our Fort Lauderdale. You don't need to read the previous books in the series, Cross Current and Surface Tension, first, but if you are into mysteries, especially Florida mysteries, as Kay and I are, you will want to go back and read them after you have finished Bitter End.
Kling's books are straight-forward, no wacky-drooling villains, a la our most famous native son author, Carl Hiaasen, who plays for black humor. She sticks to violent crime, plunging her heroine into a complex puzzle, conflict with the local cops, and dange. Throw in some personal conflicts, a little sex, and, most important, a great setting, and you have a terrific read.
Kling handles all elements of a story well: plot, character and setting, but what turns me on most is how she describes Fort Lauderdale, particularly its water elements: the New River, the Intracoastal and the open ocean. When Seychelle is on the New River early on a cold morning, you feel a chill. A reader can't ask for more.
Bitter End, of course, throws in a bit of roman a clef, Nick Pontus being a thinly fictionalized version of the recently terminally departed Gus Boulis, down to the black Mustang escape car. (Thank goodness it wasn't a red one.) But she doesn't follow that line for too long, bringing in her own characters and a totally different plot. Kling has both talent and skill, which explains why she has had three hard-covers published, a major accomplishment in a genre where most work comes out only in paperback. A ride on the Gorda with Seychelle Sullivan is a vicarious thrill and a wonderful tour of waterside Fort Lauderdale.
Bitter End by Christine Kling
A Seychelle Sullivan Mystery Ballantine Books, 2005
It was a cold morning on the New River when Seychelle Sullivan piloted her salvage tug Gorda toward the Andrews Avenue Bridge. Ahead of her she could see the Mykonos, a 50-foot Hatteras owned by sandwich shop and gambling cruise ship owner, Nick Pontus.
Suddenly, a shot rings out... So begins Christine Kling's latest Fort Lauderdale-set mystery, the third in her hard-cover Seychelle Sullivan series. Kling is a Fort Lauderdale resident and graduate of Florida International University's highly regarded Creative Writing Program.
If you love a mystery and love Fort Lauderdale, (or just live here) you will thoroughly enjoy following the adventures of Seychelle Sullivan, owner of a maritime salvage business inherited from her father who chose to name his children after islands. Seychelle has a brother named Mad(agascar.) She also has all the characteristics of a good mystery heroine: a business that exposes her to crime and violence, a mixed-up love life, a knack for sticking her nose into matters most of us conventional folk would leave to the police, and an exciting setting, our Fort Lauderdale. You don't need to read the previous books in the series, Cross Current and Surface Tension, first, but if you are into mysteries, especially Florida mysteries, as Kay and I are, you will want to go back and read them after you have finished Bitter End.
Kling's books are straight-forward, no wacky-drooling villains, a la our most famous native son author, Carl Hiaasen, who plays for black humor. She sticks to violent crime, plunging her heroine into a complex puzzle, conflict with the local cops, and dange. Throw in some personal conflicts, a little sex, and, most important, a great setting, and you have a terrific read.
Kling handles all elements of a story well: plot, character and setting, but what turns me on most is how she describes Fort Lauderdale, particularly its water elements: the New River, the Intracoastal and the open ocean. When Seychelle is on the New River early on a cold morning, you feel a chill. A reader can't ask for more.
Bitter End, of course, throws in a bit of roman a clef, Nick Pontus being a thinly fictionalized version of the recently terminally departed Gus Boulis, down to the black Mustang escape car. (Thank goodness it wasn't a red one.) But she doesn't follow that line for too long, bringing in her own characters and a totally different plot. Kling has both talent and skill, which explains why she has had three hard-covers published, a major accomplishment in a genre where most work comes out only in paperback. A ride on the Gorda with Seychelle Sullivan is a vicarious thrill and a wonderful tour of waterside Fort Lauderdale.
posted by Jack Latona at 3:30 PM
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