Blurb
Marsali Taylor returns with the ninth gripping mystery in her Shetland Sailing Mystery series.
While onboard her last chartered sailing trip of the season, Cass Lynch is awoken in the middle of the night by a Mayday call to the Shetland coastguard. A fishing vessel has become trapped on the rocks off the coast of one of the islands.
In the days that follow, there's both a shocking murder and a baffling death. On the surface there's no link, but when Cass becomes involved it is soon clear that her life is also in danger.
Convinced that someone sinister is at work in these Shetland waters, Cass is determined to find and stop them. But uncovering the truth could prove to be deadly...
Review
With this being the ninth book in the series, I was concerned that there may have been a lot of past events to catch up on. Fortunately, this story seemed self-contained enough that I didn't pick up on anything of that sort.
The story provides plenty of layers of intrigue and drama, with Cass finding herself embroiled in a family matter on the trip she's serving on; the sailing trip is for the birthday of a man named Stevie, but one of his nieces wants him to face justice for historic child abuse, while his other niece wants to cover it up. On top of that, a man named Paul Roberts (no relation) is visiting the community, but most of the locals are wary of him. It's a slow burning plot, but it certainly thickens as it goes on.
I must admit that I did struggle with a lot of the Shetland dialect in the story. While it does help ground the setting, it can be difficult to follow at times. Fortunately, there is a glossary at the end of the book, but I'm just wondering if there should be footnotes.
All-in-all, it's a nice complex mystery that paints a vivid picture of the setting.
The Shetland Sea Murders is available from Amazon here.
About the Author
Marsali Taylor grew up in Musselburgh, and took her first teaching post in the Shetlands. Her main series is the Shetland Sailing Mysteries, puzzle-style crime novels which follow the adventures of sailor Cass Lynch and Inverness DI Gavin Macrae.
Happy writing.
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