Wahoo Rhapsody, An Atticus Fish Novel by Shaun Morey

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AppId is over the quota

This is a rockin' good read! Shaun Morey hit all the bases with this. Readers have never met these outrageous characters anywhere else. They come right out of Morey's rich imagination, and are crafted in such a way that makes a series of Atticus Fish novels a must. Baja California makes a beautiful backdrop for the characters to move through, and these characters are certainly on the move. Drug running from Cabo to San Diego aboard a fishing charter called the Wahoo Rhapsody pulls the reader right in. The writing style is fresh, creative, and fast paced.

Atticus Fish, as a lawyer, sued God and the Church and won! Unfortunately, Atticus runs afoul of the "Christian fanatics," and with the huge settlement from the case he heads for southern Baja. He buys an island and buries his millions in the sand. To keep his sobriety Fish builds a bar, Cantina del Cielo, his reasoning being, "hanging around drunks all day is a good reminder to stay sober." He also owns the Wahoo Rhapsody. Atticus's character continues to unfold throughout the book, as a hero on the side of right, truth and justice he is a champion for sea life, and down and out people. He rides a burro in the name of ecology and simplicity, and doesn't have a girl friend, however there are a few juicy spots for the more randy readers.

Weevil Ott, the first mate on the Wahoo Rhapsody, is also a part-time drug runner, and a hapless sort. The reader starts to feel a little sorry for him, because the author has created hilarious ways of bringing pain to the pitiful fellow who just can't seem to get a break. The bet is on that the reader will actually laugh out loud more than once while reading Weevil's plight.

"La Cucaracha" the drug lord that Ott is tangled up with begins an attack on the Rhapsody for the "fat fish" stored on ice. Morey comes up with an ingenious way of transporting drugs as there is "a fortune in marijuana" hidden inside the cold carcasses. The big yellow-tail are off-loaded to a tuna canning operation in San Diego, where the unscrupulous manager, disembowels the pot from the bellies, cans and labels the Cannabis for shipment to the cartel.

Greed bites everyone but not as hard as poor ol' Weevil, who starts digging in the sand after Atticus' millions. There are many other notable characters, but Weevil steals the show. Foiled again by the drug runners who he had worked with, and being so beaten up he turns heartless as he kills them in very nasty ways. Atticus gets to fly his seaplane into the rescue, fights the bad guys, kills a few, and the plot twists and turns like making a run through the fresh-water mangroves of Baja's inland waterways.

Shaun Morey is also the author of the bestselling "Incredible Fishing Stories" series and won the inaugural Abbey-Hill short-story contest, as well as a three-time winner of the Los Angeles Time novel-writing contest. He has a passion for southern Baja, and has lived off and on in Baja for years, which definitely shows in his descriptive details on location. His inspiration for Atticus Fish started when he "fell in love with the remote rugged beauty of Magdalena Bay." He spent days exploring the outer islands, and "rolling down steep stunning sand dunes." It was natural for Fish to buy an island and build his getaway there. Shaun Morey's second book in the series of Atticus Fish novels is coming out in August of 2012.

Martina Dobesh has been a resident of northern Baja for 12 years, having lived in southern Baja and spending much time on the Gulf of California. She is an author, journalist and editor of The Baja Sun. Her focus and intention is to bring a clearer awareness about what Baja has to offer, beyond the mainstream ideas of real estate and good food. The Baja Sun was created out of this desire. Please visit http://www.thebajasun.com/ and see for yourself. Read the stories from people who know the truth of this most amazing land. "Wahoo Rapsody" by Shaun Morey can be purchased on Amazon.com

Believing the Lie By Elizabeth George

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AppId is over the quota

Here finally is another Inspector Thomas Lynley novel. This one is over 600 pages though. Who knew there would be that much to say about a single case? Well it flows really well and goes exceedingly quickly. Lynley is summoned into the presence of Hillier at his London club away from Scotland Yard. He is asked to not mention where he is going or with whom he will be meeting. Immediately a little suspicious Thomas goes along as asked and finds himself meeting Lord Bernard Fairclough. Fairclough is a little bit of a rags to riches story. He met his future wife when they were teenagers and set about to not only courting her but also to marrying her. Her father owned a very successful business which Bernard eventually took over and made even more successful. This gentleman was requesting the help of Scotland Yard, but only on the sly. His nephew had just died a few days previously which had been ruled an accidental drowning by the courts. He wanted clarification of these results and to not make that public information. Lynley was to tell no one - not even his immediately superior.

Thomas enlists the help of his two best friends, Deborah and Simon St. James and they head up to the glorious Lake District and Cumbria. He knows he is going to need some help as they are to try to remain incognito to the rest of Fairclough's family too. The man has three grown children, all of whom seem to have their own set of issues. The dead nephew has two young children but he had left their mother about a year before to live openly with his male lover. To say the ex-wife was incensed would be to put it mildly and took out her grief and anger on anyone who would listen. As is usually the case, the children of this now defunct marriage are the ones who take the brunt of the hurt.

Every member of the family has a story, and a pretty extreme one in most cases as well. Lynley and his friends initially try to examine the evidence of the drowning as a place to start and quickly become embroiled in the everyday workings of the family. There is the added question as to whether or not the deceased was the intended victim as Lord Fairclough's wife used the boathouse far more regularly than he did.

The plots thicken and thicken and never does this story get old or feel as though one is reading what amounts to a tome. You could literally use the book as a door stop it is so large but then that is what was required to get all the facts out. Throw in Barbara Havers in London dealing with brass at the Yard as well as having to get herself sorted with regard to her personal grooming and a rabid tabloid reporter who is desperately searching for a great byline into the mix and you have a grand novel. A long one but a great one.

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