Underneath Every Stone

Blackwater Bay #5

by Paula Gosling

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.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Paula Gosling is a US born crime writer. She has lived in the UK since the 1960s. Gosling started her writing career as a copy-writer and published her first novel, A Running Duck, in 1974. This won the John Creasey Award for the best first novel of the year and she has also received both the Gold Dagger for Monkey Puzzle in 1985. She is a past Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association.

Her novel A Running Duck, written in 1974 (also published as Fair Game), has been adapted twice into films, once as a Sylvester Stallone vehicle - Cobra and the second time as a film with Cindy Crawford entitled Fair Game.

Reviews

[Judy Brunner · Rating 2 out of 5]

More or less a waste of paper and print. Read a bit and then zapped to the end.

[Kiri Mccurdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy quick read once I managed to really sit down and read. Humourous and entertaining but without any depth, which was all I was looking for.

[JenniferB]

Entertaining, but not her best book, too lightweight