Palms, Paradise, Poison by John Keyse-Walker

 

First Line: "A hurricane is like a wanton woman," my Dada used to say.

 

Life in the British Virgin Islands means that hurricanes are part of the natural scheme of things. When Hurricane Leatha roars in, Constable Teddy Creque expects a power outage. He expects flooding. He expects the phones not to work. His primary concern is keeping all two hundred residents of the small island of Anegada safe. 

 

When he receives a radioed message from headquarters warning of a dangerous escaped criminal, Teddy has other things on his mind like saving a man on a sinking boat, but he does make the capture. The woman prefers to be called Queen Ya-Ya and is a practitioner of ancient Afro-Cuban rites.  She doesn't seem all that dangerous to Teddy, but when she manages to kill a man from inside her locked cell and then vanish, Teddy has no choice but to reconsider. 

When the hurricane moves out and life begins to return to normal, there's no sign of Queen Ya-Ya, and she is presumed to have drowned after escaping in a stolen boat. But when that boat turns up on a beach in Cuba, Teddy is called upon to go to investigate.

~

I was looking forward to meeting Constable Teddy Creque again, and he did not disappoint. One of the things I've enjoyed about this series is its depiction of the life and culture of a small island in the British Virgin Islands. In Palms, Paradise, Poison, I learned how ancient beliefs are a part of this life and how they can be twisted in the wrong person's hands. 

This third book in the series has some gorgeous descriptions of the landscape and wildlife on Caribbean islands, and I loved learning about Cayo Saetia, Fidel Castro's favorite little island off the coast of Cuba. The hurricane scenes are powerful and kept me on tenterhooks throughout the beginning of the book. (After reading Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope mysteries and now Keyse-Walker's Teddy Creque books, I'm convinced I need to trade in my Jeep for an old Land Rover.)

Teddy gets to go on a road trip with Cuban police officer Luz Garcia, and their eventual capture of Queen Ya-Ya does not go smoothly. As interesting as this all is, Palms, Paradise, Poison is also a story of a man reinventing his life after the death of his wife. Teddy Creque wasn't a very admirable man at the beginning of the series, and his wife's death threw him into a downward spiral of depression and alcohol. Now he's met the right woman, and they and their blended family of three children are happy... but is Teddy as reformed as he thinks he is? If temptation arises, will he be able to resist?

I enjoyed this book, the hurricane, the travels through Cuba, the apprehension of Queen Ya-Ya, and seeing what Teddy's done with his life since the second book, Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed. Now I'm eager to find out what's next for this constable on a small Caribbean island. Bring it on.

Palms, Paradise, Poison by John Keyse-Walker

eISBN: 9781448306282

Severn House © 2021

eBook, 224 pages

 

Police Procedural, #3 Teddy Creque mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed by John Keyse-Walker

First Line: Violent death is part of a policeman's job-- witnessing it, dealing with its aftermath, informing the next of kin, capturing the perpetrators, and sometimes even avoiding having it visited upon one's self.

He may have been awarded the Queen's Police Medal for his bravery in solving the crime in Sun, Sand, Murder, but Constable Teddy Creque is still recuperating from the physical and mental wounds he received as a result of that investigation. But a promotion and a medal can be great incentives, so when a woman is killed in a shark attack off the coast of a neighboring island, Teddy is happy to answer Deputy Commissioner Howard Lane's call. 

He was supposed to capture and kill the man-eating shark, but he quickly begins to suspect that the woman's death was far from accidental. Still new to everything that a murder investigation entails, Teddy has to become creative in his pursuit of justice. His only witness is a silent child who communicates in unorthodox ways, and he must also gain the trust of islanders who have learned to be reserved in order to deal with tourists. Sooner or later, all this gathering of clues and facts is going to put the British Virgin Islands' newest constable right in the path of a killer.

It is rather sobering to write this review in the days following Hurricane Irma's destruction of the two islands-- Anegada and Virgin Gorda-- that figure so prominently in Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed. John Keyse-Walker writes eloquently of island life and culture. It's so easy to visualize the scenes that take place on the islands or out on the water and diving on the coral reefs. 

Teddy Creque has done a lot of growing since the first book in the series, both mentally and emotionally. He's learned quite a bit about what being a good police officer entails, and he's very aware that his education has just begun. He has a natural aptitude for investigation, and he's even improved his skills in working with his superior officers. This character growth really impressed me, and certainly makes me eager for more books in the series. 

The mystery in Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed features some excellent misdirection, exciting action sequences, and a romantic interest for Teddy that no-romance-in-my-books me didn't turn my nose up at. Bring on the next book; I'm ready for another trip to the Caribbean!

Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed by John Keyse-Walker

eISBN: 9781250148483

Minotaur Books © 2017

eBook, 297 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Teddy Creque mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Sun, Sand, Murder by John Keyse-Walker

First Line: Walking along the water's edge, the killer thought about the gun.

For twenty years, Teddy Creque has been the Special Constable on the island of Anegada in the heart of the British Virgin Islands. For twenty years he's had nothing to investigate and no reports to file, which is a good thing since he and his wife have to juggle multiple jobs in order to raise their children. 

All this tranquility comes to an end when Teddy receives a report about a dead man on the beach. The dead man is biologist Paul Keliher who did research on Anegada every winter. When the British Virgin Islands' "real" police show up, Teddy is removed from the investigation and told all he can do is notify Keliher's next of kin of the man's death. But when Teddy does he learns that Paul Keliher never existed. Now Teddy has something he can really investigate-- even if his boss doesn't want him to-- because he wants to show them all that he isn't a failure as Special Constable. It's not going to be easy to balance his investigation with his other jobs and his complicated family life, but he is determined to solve the case.

There is something about Teddy's homelife that made me wonder if I was going to like this book, but John Keyse-Walker swiftly drew me into his story by bringing the people and the tiny island of Anegada to life. The landscape, the weather, how the people live, the food they eat... everything combined to put me right on the beach with them. I love it when that happens.

Teddy is not always a likeable character, but he's always interesting. For twenty years, he's had it relatively easy. His wife makes sure everything at home runs smoothly. His job as Special Constable basically means driving around from beach to beach, chatting with the residents, and occasionally dealing with someone who's had too much to drink. His other jobs are even less taxing. But all that changes when Paul Keliher is murdered, and it's interesting to see how Teddy changes once he's finally got something important to do. 

Investigation isn't his forte-- he's never had to do it before-- and the author gives him a very intriguing one to solve. Although Keyse-Walker does make a couple of rookie mistakes in this first book (which I won't go into because I don't want to give you any help in identifying the killer), I found the mystery kept my interest throughout the book because there is so much more to it than just pointing a finger and saying, "You did it." 

There are also some good secondary characters, but if this is the first book in a series (and I sincerely hope that it is), the author does need to beef up the cast a bit. All in all, I was very impressed with Sun, Sand, Murder, and I'm hoping to read more books by John Keyse-Walker. Bring 'em on!
     

Sun, Sand, Murder by John Keyse-Walker

ISBN: 9781250088291 

Minotaur Books © 2016

Hardcover, 288 pages

Police Procedural, Standalone (?)

Rating: A

Source: the publisher