Monday, October 02, 2017

Hidden Scars by Mark de Castrique


First Line: My partner, Nakayla Robertson, had taken a long weekend in Charleston with the women in her book club for the annual retreat they called "Reading Between the Wines."

When an elderly friend of private investigator Sam Blackman asks him to stop by the nursing home, Sam quickly finds out that his friend had an ulterior motive. An eighty-year-old resident wants Sam to look into the suspicious death of her brother back in 1948, even though Sam tells her that there is very little chance that he'll find anything. 

The woman's brother, Paul Weaver, was a World War II veteran enrolled at Black Mountain College, a liberal local school, with an international reputation for innovation, thanks to a stellar faculty and advisors like Buckminster Fuller and Albert Einstein. Sam learns that a movie is currently being filmed which is set at the college, so he heads over to talk with the author upon whose book the movie is based. A man helping out on the set has information for Sam, but is murdered before Sam can talk to him. This death-- and one following it-- turn a cold case white hot.

If you haven't read a Sam Blackman mystery yet, I highly recommend that you remedy your oversight. Mark de Castrique writes one of the best private investigator series going, and I always look forward to each new installment. Sam Blackman is a former Army Chief Warrant Officer who lost his leg in Iraq. He and Nakayla Robertson are partners in both their professional and personal lives; they're an interracial couple loaded with intelligence and humor and have a wonderful support team that includes a lawyer and a police officer there in Asheville, North Carolina. 

These Sam Blackman mysteries always have something to do with Asheville's little-known yet fascinating history-- this time concerning Black Mountain College. The mystery not only involves the college, it also ties in present-day political shenanigans in the state's film industry as well as lingering racial tensions. The mystery in Hidden Scars moves smoothly and steadily to its conclusion, and I've found time and again that it's very easy to be seduced by de Castrique's story and forget to come up for air. And that humor I mentioned earlier? The humans don't have all the good scenes; Blue the coonhound and a rhinestone collar-wearing raccoon also have their parts to play.

I really enjoy this author's writing style. When I open one of his books, I feel as though I've stepped into his characters' lives. With each book's past woven into the present, de Castrique doesn't have to remind me of one of my favorite lines in literature: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Don't like The Great Gatsby? Don't let that keep you from getting acquainted with this excellent series. 
 

Hidden Scars by Mark de Castrique
eISBN: 9780464208973
Poisoned Pen Press © 2017
eBook, 229 pages

Private Investigator, #6 Sam Blackman mystery
Rating: A-
Source: Net Galley


 

9 comments:

  1. Interesting context, Cathy. I don't know much about Asheville, and that in itself intrigues me. Hmm....

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    1. Through reading this series, Margot, I've been learning that Asheville has some fascinating history.

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  2. I know that Asheville has fascinating history, but I don't know what it is exactly, except that it's a popular city. And I have heard of Black Mountain College.

    And I like that there's humor here, so it's going on that burgeoning TBR list.

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    1. There are many fascinating facets of Asheville history that can be uncovered by reading all the books in this series.

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  3. Well, the library had it today, so I checked it out.

    It has to compete with two books I'm reading, one is City of Ghosts by Kelli Stanley, the other A Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness, by David Casarette.

    And with two dvds: the first of the Outlander series, and season 3 of Shetland.

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    1. I really enjoyed David Casarett's book. I think he has a new book in the series coming out in December.

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  4. I'm reading it, but dropped it for Hidden Scars. As soon as I started laughing out loud, I figured this one is being read first. Humor gets me if it's done well.

    And I'm trying to avoid too much murder and mayhem in books, given national events here. Need humor.

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    1. Humor is sometimes the best medicine of all.

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  5. Yes, and I am also fascinated by Black Mountain College's history. Was just reading about it.

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