The Gatsby Murders

by Raymond Finkle

The year is 1985. After dropping out of medical school, Christopher Harding moves to the island of Nantucket for a change of scene. He gets a job working at a dive bar and becomes fast friends with the locals. Everything seems perfect, right down to his new girlfriend. It isn't long, though, before his new reality takes a turn for the worse.When Christopher discovers a dead body, it becomes clear that all is not right on the island. He begins to wonder about his recent life change and his new friends. He doesn’t know how to interpret the symbols he sees all around him. He can’t be certain of whom to trust. And when the killer begins communicating with him using quotes from the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby, Christopher begins to question his own sanity.The puzzle unwinds like a countdown clock until there's no time left. Christopher struggles to decipher the trail of clues the killer has left behind. He doesn’t want to end up as just another literary casualty. Will he survive or will he fade away like a bad metaphor? The end, like in any good story, is impossible to predict.

180 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 11, 2021

About the author

Raymond Finkle is a physician who lives in New England. He wrote The Mendelian Protocol in 2005 during medical school. He decided to revive his writing career in 2020 because it was such a great year, all around, that it just seemed like the thing to do.
He released the Insanity Criterion, also a sci-fi medical thriller, in October 2020.
His third book The Armageddon Prophecy should be out before the end of 2020. It is not sci-fi.
He is currently working on his fourth book, a mystery set on Nantucket Island in the 1980s.
His short story collection Three Stories is available on Amazon.
He can be reached at rayfinkleauthor@gmail.com

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and haunting at the same time, this novel is a complicated story of Christopher who is housesitting on Nantucket and works as a bartender at a local watering hole where he is enchanted by the local barmaid, Shirl and of course falls in love immediately. They fish, "steal" a sailboat and lose it, find a corpse in the basement.... What else could you possibly want (except references to Magnum PI which we still watch as re-runs)! You won't want to put it down...so don't and you won't be disappointed!

[MRS G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliantly written!!

What a wonderful book. You fall full on into the story - I really didn't want to put it down.

I loved the way it's been written in the first person. Crammed with amusing and witty, self depreciating, open and honest narration.

Totally my cup of tea! There is nothing at all I did not like about this superb book.

I'm going straight onto The Mendelian Protocol.... Whoop!

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Gatsby Murders is a historical mystery written from the point of view of Christopher, an older man looking back at a time in the 80s when he was in his early 20s and living in Nantucket. I enjoyed the 1980s coastal town setting, the references to 80’s popular culture, and the characters’ bemusement with the newly emerging technologies. I also liked the various characters, particularly the self-deprecating narrator, Christopher, though I began to lose patience with his drinking as the book went on and I think his commentary was at times a little repetitive. I didn’t always understand the characters’ behaviour, for example Shirl’s behaviour towards George was strange to me. And I didn’t really understand the FBI situation, though I’m not American and have no idea how the FBI generally operates. But overall, I think this is an enjoyable historical mystery with a colourful cast of characters and of particular interest to anyone who ever wondered what was the point of having a Commodore 64 at home.

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The remembrances of an old man of his youth. Hindsight shows him regretting some of his actions such as dropping out of med school, drinking and smoking to excess. Enough suspense and wondering what is next to keep you turning the pages. Three murders and no suspect is clear. Interesting. The murder is not a surprise.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, easy "summer read". I had a problem with a couple of the plot points, and the mystery wasn't particularly difficult to solve, but overall, an entertaining book.