Forgotten Book Friday – Tilt-a-Whirl

Posted on September 25th, 2009

Tilt A Whirl
By Chris Grabenstein
Carroll & Graf / Avalon

In the seaside resort community of Sea Haven, New Jersey, the police don’t have much to do. John Ceepak, formerly a military policeman with a thirteen year career in the Army, has recently been hired as Sea Haven’s new chief of police. And twenty-three year old Danny Boyle is a part-time summer-season addition to Sea Haven’s tiny police department. Ceepak, the obsessive-compulsive law enforcement professional, and Boyle, the happy-go-lucky amateur, usually get relief from their otherwise boring routines only when minor problems occasionally crop up with the tourists and residents in Sea Haven.

Suddenly this summer, though, Ceepak and Boyle have almost more than they can handle. In fact, they have a major murder mystery on their hands. Reginald Hart, a real estate tycoon with plenty of money and at least one too many enemies, has been murdered early one morning. Someone perforated the late and perhaps not so great Hart with multiple gunshots while he sat with his twelve year old daughter Ashley on the otherwise vacant Tilt-A-Whirl in Sea Haven’s Sunnyside Playland Amusement Park. Ceepak and Boyle, enjoying breakfast as usual in one of Sea Haven’s favorite eateries, discover the crime quite abruptly when the one apparent witness to the crime—young Ashley, now covered in blood—runs down the street screaming for help.

Immediately Ceepak and Boyle are on the case. And even though the state authorities also will quickly become involved in the case, the seaside resort professional and amateur begin their own investigation. Ceepak and Boyle study the crime scene, collect evidence, interview the traumatized witness, talk to Hart’s family, and cast the net wider and wider as they look for possible suspects.

As Ceepak’s young assistant, narrator Boyle becomes something like a humorous and naïve John Watson to idiosyncratic Ceepak’s headstrong and relentless Sherlock Holmes in Tilt A Whirl, author Chris Grabenstein’s first installment in a promising new series. Following in the stylistic footsteps of Carl Hiassen and John D. MacDonald, Grabenstein has presented readers with a witty, fast-paced plot overflowing with quirk characters and unexpected twists and turns. As a thoroughly entertaining whodunit tale of murder, duplicity, greed, and friendship, Tilt A Whirl is a highly recommended nonstop thrill ride.

Tags: Chief Of Police, Chris Grabenstein, Crime Scene, Danny Boyle, Daughter Ashley, Forgotten Book, John Watson, Military Policeman, Multiple Gunshots, Murder Mystery, Playland Amusement Park, Plenty Of Money, Possible Suspects, Real Estate Tycoon, Sea Haven, Seaside Resort Community, Sherlock Holmes, State Authorities, Tilt A Whirl, Time Summer
Filed under News and Reviews |

Comments are closed.