Red Sky

Michael Tanner Mystery #5

by Carl Brookins

Mary Whitney and Michael Tanner take a long-desired sailing vacation in the British Virgin Islands. Their Caribbean charter turns quickly into a combat with smugglers and murderers.

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2011

About the author

Before I became a mystery writer and reviewer, I was a television program producer, a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul and a mystery fiction reviewer for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press and Mystery Scene Magazine. I'm an avid recreational sailor (hence my sailing series and a member of Sisters in Crime, and Private Eye Writers of America, as well as MWA. You can frequently find me touring bookstores and libraries with my companions-in-crime, The Minnesota Crime Wave. You can also catch me on tv! Just check out the Minnesota Crime Wave website, www.MinnesotaCrimeWave.org.

I live with my wife Jean, a retired publisher and editor, in Roseville, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Penny Grubb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast-moving tale of adventure and espionage set in and around the Virgin Islands. It has one of those slow-burn starts where you get wrapped up in the landscape and the minutiae of life aboard a yacht as married couple Michael Tanner and Mary Whitney enjoy an idyllic sailing holiday, but there’s an underlying tension because you know the peace is not going to last, and indeed it doesn’t. The trouble starts when Michael finds a considerable sum in used (and very wet) bank notes floating in the sea.

A stand-out feature of the book for me was the sailing and Virgin Islands background that was woven into the story. The descriptions were superb and pulled the reader right into the experience of sailing in the Caribbean. I know nothing about yachts but was fascinated.

If I have a criticism it was that at times the drama was unnecessarily diluted, for example by a change of viewpoint or a lack of character reaction that pulled the reader back from the action at key moments. I noticed one reviewer saying they thought some of the scenes were far-fetched and in my view that impression came directly from the fact that the drama was not always milked for maximum tension.

The story kept my interest and left a lasting impression of its amazing setting.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost fell asleep reading this one

[Babus Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly entertaining thriller about getting tangled in a counterfeit money and drugs ring. The action takes place on board a boat and even if you aren't an avid sailor it is quite interesting and engaging. Things get interesting as murder ensues and Mary and Tanner don't know who they can trust.

I enjoyed this book as it refreshingly had strong female characters who took matters into their own hands and did the rescuing. Set in the idyllic British Virgin Islands this does very well as a holiday read or to take you away from miserable weather.

[Carl Brookins]

I think it's great, but then, I wrote it!