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Bergeron Mysteries #2
Foreseeable Harm
The sun was shining in his eyes. And his face was being washed with something rough. He opened one eye. A beautiful collie was licking his face and making little moans of concern. The collie's once-lovely coat was now wet, muddy, and tinged slime green.
“Hey, Boy."
The collie, heartened by this greeting, wuffed a couple of times and then started barking in earnest. A little boy in a t-shirt and shorts parted the reeds enough to spot him before pulling back.
“Come here, Chance!” Chance wuffed but was loathe to leave his new friend.
“Little Boy, get your father...or mother...or somebody. I need some help.”
He heard footsteps running away; Chance wuffed and then leaped out of the ditch to follow his master. It seemed like a long time passed. He was thinking about trying to stand up when an imposing man-shape blotted out the sun.
He briefly wondered if it was his attacker/abductor come back to reclaim him, but the man said, “How the Hell? You drunk? Or high?”
“A long story. And no and no. Can you get me out of this ditch?”
Chance was jumping into and out of the ditch, barking like a fiend, clearly excited by this novel twist to his morning walk. The man discovered that his wrist was cuffed, and then discovered the cast iron radiator. “You sure you aren't high?”
“Very sure.”
The radiator was buried in the muck, but the man ripped it loose and heaved it onto the bank. Strong hands lifted him out of the ditch and deposited him next to his iron companion. The man, who was still just a huge shape, said, “How the Hell did you get yourself cuffed to a radiator?”
“I didn't. Call the police. Now. Please.”
It was nice to be out of the water, but he should probably figure out why he'd been lured to Crisfield, clobbered, and kidnapped by a man in a white mask? But he may have taken a short nap instead.
“Hey, Boy."
The collie, heartened by this greeting, wuffed a couple of times and then started barking in earnest. A little boy in a t-shirt and shorts parted the reeds enough to spot him before pulling back.
“Come here, Chance!” Chance wuffed but was loathe to leave his new friend.
“Little Boy, get your father...or mother...or somebody. I need some help.”
He heard footsteps running away; Chance wuffed and then leaped out of the ditch to follow his master. It seemed like a long time passed. He was thinking about trying to stand up when an imposing man-shape blotted out the sun.
He briefly wondered if it was his attacker/abductor come back to reclaim him, but the man said, “How the Hell? You drunk? Or high?”
“A long story. And no and no. Can you get me out of this ditch?”
Chance was jumping into and out of the ditch, barking like a fiend, clearly excited by this novel twist to his morning walk. The man discovered that his wrist was cuffed, and then discovered the cast iron radiator. “You sure you aren't high?”
“Very sure.”
The radiator was buried in the muck, but the man ripped it loose and heaved it onto the bank. Strong hands lifted him out of the ditch and deposited him next to his iron companion. The man, who was still just a huge shape, said, “How the Hell did you get yourself cuffed to a radiator?”
“I didn't. Call the police. Now. Please.”
It was nice to be out of the water, but he should probably figure out why he'd been lured to Crisfield, clobbered, and kidnapped by a man in a white mask? But he may have taken a short nap instead.
- GenresMystery
312 pages, ebook
Published July 22, 2016
About the author
M.G. Lewis
33 books18 followers The Bergeron Mysteries feature one Gabriel Henri Bergeron, crackerjack accountant and all around good egg. Gabe is willing to admit that he's not really a detective as his nearest and dearest and numerous officers of the law have told him over the years. Told him repeatedly.
And some of those same individuals have suggested that he's “nosy, prying, rude” and others have added “meddling and insatiably curious”, but Gabe rejects all those assessments. He believes that he is moderately curious about his fellow human beings. Which is not a flaw.
He just gets drawn into situations trying to help out friends, relatives, and co-workers.
Like his very first case, which he undertook when he was but one and twenty years old. Raúl Gutierrez, who was only fourteen at the time, had been accused of stealing Aunt Flo's big gold Lincoln Continental.
And why did Gabe decide to help Raúl? They weren't friends and not exactly relatives. Raúl was Ezmeralda's nephew, and Ezmeralda was Aunt Flo's boon companion and comrade. So if he thought of Ezmeralda as a sister-in-arms to Aunt Flo, who was actually Gabe's great-aunt, then Raúl was a sort of cousin. Once removed?
In any case, Aunt Flo had taken Gabe in after the death of his mother, and he was determined to find her Lincoln, The police had managed that on their own, but Gabe had solved the case and exonerated Raúl, which had led to the teenage villains being punished. Of course, those same villains would turn up later, but that was another case, another story.
And then he'd done accounting stuff for a few years at Girard-Hartmann Accounting until Eric Girard, one of the partners, had gotten himself and his yacht blown up on Daugherty Creek. Eric had previously fired one Gabe Bergeron from the aforesaid Girard-Hartmann Accounting, and the police had liked Gabe for Eric's murder until they had liked the other partner and Gabe's best friend, Neil Hartmann, better. Gabe had obviously been eager to help his best friend.
And then all sorts of rogues had wanted the Cabrera paintings, which had put Aunt Flo and Ezmeralda into danger.
And he had just sorted that when he'd learned that his mother's death had been a homicide; unsuspected for two decades. Which nobody but Gabe Bergeron was going to investigate.
So Gabe didn't feel that it was weird that he solved crimes. Nope. Not even weird-adjacent.
And some of those same individuals have suggested that he's “nosy, prying, rude” and others have added “meddling and insatiably curious”, but Gabe rejects all those assessments. He believes that he is moderately curious about his fellow human beings. Which is not a flaw.
He just gets drawn into situations trying to help out friends, relatives, and co-workers.
Like his very first case, which he undertook when he was but one and twenty years old. Raúl Gutierrez, who was only fourteen at the time, had been accused of stealing Aunt Flo's big gold Lincoln Continental.
And why did Gabe decide to help Raúl? They weren't friends and not exactly relatives. Raúl was Ezmeralda's nephew, and Ezmeralda was Aunt Flo's boon companion and comrade. So if he thought of Ezmeralda as a sister-in-arms to Aunt Flo, who was actually Gabe's great-aunt, then Raúl was a sort of cousin. Once removed?
In any case, Aunt Flo had taken Gabe in after the death of his mother, and he was determined to find her Lincoln, The police had managed that on their own, but Gabe had solved the case and exonerated Raúl, which had led to the teenage villains being punished. Of course, those same villains would turn up later, but that was another case, another story.
And then he'd done accounting stuff for a few years at Girard-Hartmann Accounting until Eric Girard, one of the partners, had gotten himself and his yacht blown up on Daugherty Creek. Eric had previously fired one Gabe Bergeron from the aforesaid Girard-Hartmann Accounting, and the police had liked Gabe for Eric's murder until they had liked the other partner and Gabe's best friend, Neil Hartmann, better. Gabe had obviously been eager to help his best friend.
And then all sorts of rogues had wanted the Cabrera paintings, which had put Aunt Flo and Ezmeralda into danger.
And he had just sorted that when he'd learned that his mother's death had been a homicide; unsuspected for two decades. Which nobody but Gabe Bergeron was going to investigate.
So Gabe didn't feel that it was weird that he solved crimes. Nope. Not even weird-adjacent.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 13, 2025
Very good follow up to Bergeron Mystery #1, Death on Daugherty Creek. And more of a follow up than I expected. While quite a bit of story time has passed between the first book and this one, (roughly a year, if I recall correctly), Lewis here takes the Cuban spy stuff he planted about Aunt Flo, something I’d expected to see drawn out slowly over the course of several books, if not the series, and just goes to town with it.
If I’m rating this lower than the first book, it’s because the mystery didn’t pull me in quite as well as the first did. The reason, I suspect, is that while both books involve people withholding a lot of information from Gabe, in the first, it’s mainly law enforcement types that do, and in this one, where Gabe is being more directly targeted, the people doing the most withholding are essentially Gabe’s family, and I was clearly far less accepting of that situation than Gabe.
Moreover, where as in book one there was a vast cast of suspects and other parties who were providing information, it feels like fewer characters are in play this time, and certainly fewer of them are named, at least initially, though questions of identity certainly seem fitting for a plotline that involves Cuba’s equivalent of the KGB.
On the character side, a number of the characters from book one do reappear, including the handsome ranger Kurt. FBI Special Agent Cory, who I’m expecting to develop into an actual love interest at some point is introduced, though we get no more than a little admiration and the lightest possible flirting in this one.
Gabe’s strange social interactions are unchanged, frequently leaving me wondering quite what the other party thinks of the interaction and continuing to support my autistic headcanon. (Note pov does give us a little snatch of seemingly omniscient insight into other characters, but it reads largely as close-third following Gabe.)
Lest you think my slightly lower rating on this book represents any sort of fading enchantment with the series, know that it was not so easily as usual that I forced myself to follow my standard rule, forbidding the reading of two books in a row by the same author, and picked up a mercifully short, unrelated book after this. I absolutely intend to read #3 as soon as I’m done with that.
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Jan 2025 reread: Thoroughly enjoyed this on my second read and was surprised to see after I finished that I'd only given it a 4 on the first read. The issue I mention above though, wrt who's withholding information does still make sense, but I can't say I really noticed that this time. Knowing what was coming freed me up to pay attention other things. I love this series so much.
If I’m rating this lower than the first book, it’s because the mystery didn’t pull me in quite as well as the first did. The reason, I suspect, is that while both books involve people withholding a lot of information from Gabe, in the first, it’s mainly law enforcement types that do, and in this one, where Gabe is being more directly targeted, the people doing the most withholding are essentially Gabe’s family, and I was clearly far less accepting of that situation than Gabe.
Moreover, where as in book one there was a vast cast of suspects and other parties who were providing information, it feels like fewer characters are in play this time, and certainly fewer of them are named, at least initially, though questions of identity certainly seem fitting for a plotline that involves Cuba’s equivalent of the KGB.
On the character side, a number of the characters from book one do reappear, including the handsome ranger Kurt. FBI Special Agent Cory, who I’m expecting to develop into an actual love interest at some point is introduced, though we get no more than a little admiration and the lightest possible flirting in this one.
Gabe’s strange social interactions are unchanged, frequently leaving me wondering quite what the other party thinks of the interaction and continuing to support my autistic headcanon. (Note pov does give us a little snatch of seemingly omniscient insight into other characters, but it reads largely as close-third following Gabe.)
Lest you think my slightly lower rating on this book represents any sort of fading enchantment with the series, know that it was not so easily as usual that I forced myself to follow my standard rule, forbidding the reading of two books in a row by the same author, and picked up a mercifully short, unrelated book after this. I absolutely intend to read #3 as soon as I’m done with that.
#########
Jan 2025 reread: Thoroughly enjoyed this on my second read and was surprised to see after I finished that I'd only given it a 4 on the first read. The issue I mention above though, wrt who's withholding information does still make sense, but I can't say I really noticed that this time. Knowing what was coming freed me up to pay attention other things. I love this series so much.
October 9, 2024
Can't tag these "surprise goodness" anymore, because I'm no longer surprised. This one's straight-up terrifying; also, the more we learn about Gabe's history, the more the underlying melancholy comes to the fore.
I'm not going to have time to write a proper review of each one in the series, but I have to at least put in a star rating and a few words of praise. In lieu of anything fuller, a link to @Daniel's review.
I'm on #4 now, and how odd and special these books continue to be.
I'm not going to have time to write a proper review of each one in the series, but I have to at least put in a star rating and a few words of praise. In lieu of anything fuller, a link to @Daniel's review.
I'm on #4 now, and how odd and special these books continue to be.
January 4, 2025
couldn't put this book down. MG Lewis hits another one clear out of the ballpark!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews