Friday Harbor

by D.C. Alexander

It's 1922. Prohibition is the law of the land. A rumrunner's boat is found adrift near the United States-Canada maritime border of Puget Sound, its crew missing, its cargo hold riddled with bullet holes and awash with blood. Young Sheriff Miles Scott takes on a murder investigation with a list of suspects including rival rumrunners, temperance fanatics, anti-immigrant labor leaders, and the hatchet men of Seattle's powerful underground crime syndicates. Fighting to protect the vulnerable population of his bucolic home islands, and contending with a hidden array of informants and corrupt officials, Miles races against a killer who continues to spill blood to cover his tracks.

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2024

About the author

D.C. Alexander is a former federal agent. His debut novel, The Legend of Devil's Creek, was a #1 best seller. His second novel, The Shadow Priest, was described as "a great beach read" by the USA TODAY Network. Friday Harbor is his sixth novel. He is a native of the Pacific Northwest.

Reviews

[Tanya Portwine · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a person who grew up in Anacortes, I was initially excited to read this book which took place in the San Juan Islands. I was hoping this book had more excitement, but it seemed to drag on for me. I probably wouldn’t read anything else by this author.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a little late with this review as I was out of the country for five weeks with no access to my files. D. C. ALEXANDER had sent me a review copy of his book FRIDAY HARBOR just before we left for our trip and I read it while out of the country. I enjoyed my first crack at reading his work. I hope this is the beginning of a series because the characters, the time and the locales are fascinating. The author does have a few other books available so I will look at them in the future.
The time is the 1920’s (Prohibition era in the U.S. when alcoholic beverages were banned from public consumption). The locales are centered around the San Juan Islands of northern Puget Sound (State of Washington) in the NW corner of the lower mainland of the United States. Specifically, it is the fishing community of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.
The law-abiding characters include twenty-something, jazz saxophone playing, Acting Sheriff Miles Scott, Seattle Forensic Detective Ashton Floyd sent to help with the investigation by persons unknown to Miles, and Bill Shaw the Sheriff’s errand-running assistant.
Those on the other side of the law include Otto Stenerson the chief rumrunner of Puget Sound (a former police lieutenant in the Seattle Police Department). Another suspicious actor is the Reverend Gabriel McCaskill a bible-thumping temperance supporter who is known to beat up opponents. Also, on the “lawless” side are members of various Tongs (gangs) from the Chinese population of Seattle and the Puget Sound region.
One other person of note is Yin a teenage girl from Guangdong Province in China. Her father sells her because he cannot afford to support her and the rest of his family. Her story is told as short vignettes between the main story lines. Eventually, the reader learns why her story is important.
At the heart of the mystery is the disappearance of father and son Hans and Leif Jensen, two local fishermen. Their abandoned fishing trawler is found near the Canadian border with blood splatter and bullet holes all around the boat. It is thought that they might be rumrunners working for Stenerson as independent contractors. Rumrunners transported illegal liquor such as Scotch whiskey from offshore boats or from Canada to locations on the mainland U.S.
Then bodies start to wash ashore on San Juan Island. The Sheriff and his team begin to think there might be a turf war going on. Suspects include Stenerson, the Chinese Tongs and a rival gang from San Francisco. Along the way, unknown persons attack Ashton Floyd. Another police expert from Seattle, who is fluent in Chinese languages, is murdered on a ferryboat on his way to Friday Harbor to help with the investigation.
A childhood friend of Miles, Marion Forde, returns to the island to visit her mother. Miles wants to re-establish their friendship at a different level. Marion is not interested. The reason why becomes evident to the reader but not to Miles.
I heartily recommend this book to fans of the mystery genre. The elements of the story mentioned earlier are not usual subjects for mysteries, readers will learn a little about the history of the time and of the region. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
GO! BUY! READ!

[Lisa Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting mystery set during the roaring twenties and prohibition.
The story takes place in the San Juan Islands, and the main character Miles Scott, who is the acting sheriff there.
The author is local to the area and weaves in a lot of local history regarding the Chinese immigrants, Seattle area history and the fishing and canning industry.

Two local fishermen, the Jensen's, go missing from their boat which is found and towed in. Inside the cabin there's a lot of blood, bullets, s severed finger, a cryptic sign and a bit of Bible scripture. Sheriff Miles must start here and try and figure out what is going on. A detective from Seattle, Ashton Floyd a forensics specialist, arrives to help him and they suspect hijackers. The prohibition has rum-runners going back and forth from Canada to Seattle and using the islands to hide out.
In the mean time, we get another story of a young Chinese girl who is taken from her families home and is hidden away with other girls in a ship for days on end. We don't really understand her plight until later in the story, but it does eventually come together.
Other individuals either go missing, or are discovered dead and Miles and Floyd go to Seattle for some more answers and to questions some of the Chinese mobster ring.

--My take on this was that it was a great story, but it did have a lot of extra characters and at one point I had to make notes as to who was who. Miles pines for his childhood best friend Marion, who has returned for a short visit and he now has feelings for, but she is with her friend Sylvia and isn't showing interest. He seems to be preoccupied with this situation for too long in my opinion and I got bored with it.
--A lot of different things going on in this story which made it feel scattered and toward the end, during the wrap-up and reveal, I dozed off several times as it just went on too long. Overall a good story, but for need it needed to be tightened up.

[Judith Painter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this story set in the 1920s. I picked up the book at Griffin's Bookstore in Friday Harbor, Washington. So it was fascinating to read about places I have just been in the San Juan Islands and Seattle. We had even done an underground tour in Seattle which played out in the book also. I felt the book was well written and definitely an enjoyable easy read.

[Laura Steinert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really tried, but I did not like any of these people.

[Jim Moylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book very much; liked the characters; thought the ending could have been a little longer explaining what happened.

[Claudette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and intriguing. Will read other books of this author.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting. A good read!