My “Killer Fiction” Archives
Posted on July 25th, 2009
Shark Island by Joan Druett
Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur.
ISBN: 0-312-33456-7
Travel back in time to 1838. The United States has sent a small flotilla of seven ships on an exploratory adventure to Antarctica on a scientific mission. As an important member of the expeditionary force, twenty-four year old Wiki Coffin has been assigned to one of the ships, the Swallow, as translator and scientific officer. The resourceful and charismatic Coffin, the son of a prominent New England ship’s captain and a New Zealand Maori woman, has also been assigned additional duties—should the need arise—as criminal investigator and law enforcement officer.
During the ships’ transit through the South Atlantic, however, the American fleet makes a puzzling discovery: Two derelict ships, the Annawan and the Hero, in varying degrees of disrepair, are stranded at Shark Island, an isolated, mysterious—and apparently otherwise uninhabited—island off the coast of Brazil. Perhaps pirates were involved in the ships’ fates. Or perhaps the ominous fortifications perched atop the island’s cliffs hold the keys to understanding what has happened to these two ships. Or perhaps there are other reasons.
Upon preliminary investigation, the American explorers find that the Hero has apparently been intentionally run aground and abandoned, but the Annawan’s marooned crew has remained with their damaged ship. In fact, Captain Ezekiel Reed, the Annawan’s eccentric commanding officer who has been accompanied on his voyage with his exotic Creole wife, quickly enlists the Americans’ assistance in hopes of repairing the Annawan and returning it to sea.
Before the repairs can begin, however, inexplicable murders threaten to further bedevil and perhaps destroy the Annawan and at the same time disrupt the Americans’ mission.
Coffin must act quickly to investigate the crimes and identify the person (or persons) responsible. Coffin immediately worries, though, that his prior acquaintance eight years earlier with Captain Reed’s beautiful young wife may complicate his investigation. And—of course—someone is clearly very eager to thwart Coffin’s investigation.
Joan Druett’s well-crafted and thoroughly surprising mystery is filled with fascinating snippets of 19th century historical and anthropological facts, and Wiki Coffin is a fascinating protagonist certain to beguile and entertain readers. Strong plotting and lots of cross-cultural and nautical details make Shark Island an impressive, fun-to-read sequel to Wiki Coffin’s debut in A Watery Grave.
Tags: American Explorers, American Fleet, Annawan, Commanding Officer, Criminal Investigator, Derelict Ships, Disrepair, Exploratory Adventure, Fates, Fiction Archives, Flotilla, Fortifications, Joan Druett, Killer Fiction, Maori Woman, Minotaur, New Zealand Maori, Preliminary Investigation, Shark Island, Two Ships
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