Blackwater Bay series

‘Words like hate and madness and kill were strangers here. After all, this wasn’t New York, or Paris or Rome, This was Paradise . . . ' It was the Great Lakes’ most exclusive residential hideaway, a tiny crime free haven. Until the morning a dead body is discovered littering someone’s perfectly manicured lawn – bringing murder to Paradise. Detective Jack Stryker is recovering from a gunshot wound at his girlfriend’s island cottage. But he’s forced to abandon his vacation when he’s persuaded to join up with the local sheriff to investigate a murder and a tangle of sinister events on the island.

Every year, the normally staid citizens of Blackwater Bay celebrate Halloween with a carnival of madness and laughter – they call it the Howl. Practical jokes are the speciality of the day and every town in the county competes for the wildest ‘Howler’ of all. For one person however, the Howl means murder. Under cover of the carnival, the killer that struck thirty years ago strikes again. Or, at least, that is what Sheriff Matt Gabriel thinks. Everybody else says he’s crazy. Suspicion, hatred and resentment surround him as he searches for the person who killed once, twice – and may kill again. Witty, full of incident and character, with a genuinely surprising solution, A Few Dying Words, once again proves Paula Gosling’s mastery in the art of the whodunit.

When a fish-nibbled corpse floats up into a fisherman’s ice hole in the frozen wastes of Blackwater Bay one morning, the shock is enough to shake Jess Gibbons out of an idle reverie on the gloomy state of her life. And as soon as Sheriff Matt Gabriel’s team confirm the body to be a mob-connected New York ex-con who could have been in the area to carry out a hit, Blackwater’s quiet streets threaten to be submerged by a ravenous media circus. Then a second puzzle emerges: a girl from the local high school and one of Jess’s pupils, inexplicably goes missing. As the community prepares for its annual Ice Festival, speculation abounds as Matt and Jess seek to solve the burning questions of the hour. Are the two cases connected? Was the girl’s recent caution for drug use a factor? And will Jess sort her life out in time for the wife-sliding competition? Weaving diverse strands together with great wit and ingenuity, The Dead of Winter is another hugely entertaining slice of murder and mystery from the Great Lakes

A murdered nurse, disappearing drug supplies, diminishing funds and the sudden death of two apparently healthy patients are just some of the problems confronting Blackwater Bay’s leading private clinic. Laura Brandon, recently arrived physiotherapist and self-appointed sleuth, realises that a lot of people have something to hide. Confronted by tight-lipped colleagues, inter-staff feuds, and strange tales about a shadowy evil that lurks in the woods, Laura begins to believe the theory of a psychotic killer on the loose. Then another, eerily similar, murder occurs and she knows the solution cannot be impersonal. Fast-paced, entertaining and expertly plotted, Paul Gosling’s latest tale from the Great Lakes brilliantly confirms her mastery in the art of the murder mystery.

It’s election time in Blackwater Bay but there’s a dead man in Cotter’s Cut who won’t be casting his vote this year. Sheriff Matt Gabriel is faced with a murder without apparent motive and circumstantial evidence leads him to arrest Frog Bartlett. Frog Bartlett is the ugliest man in Blackwater County, and he has the nastiest temper. But at least one person believes he is innocent – and has enough money to anonymously finance a strong defence. The election hots up, tempers become frayed, a small riot occurs – and then somebody else is killed. Suddenly Matt Gabriel himself is a suspect. Forced to withdraw from the investigation, he turns it over to his Chief Deputy George Putnam. Now the townsfolk are really worried. While George turns himself inside out trying to be a proper Sheriff, certain people decide to lend both George and Matt a hand – adding further confusion to the situation. Once again, Paula Gosling brings her talent for zany characters and complex, suspenseful plots to the world of Blackwater Bay. The result is a delightful story of thrills and spills and assorted cookies.