Cache of Corpses

As the author of Peril on the Katy Trail researching information for a possible future novel set at 14 Mile Point near Ontonagon, MI I was surprised to find that another author had set the conclusion of his novel at that same location. So I obtained a copy of Cache of Corpses and also the first two novels in the series by Henry Kisor, Season's Revenge: A Christmas Mystery and A Venture Into Murder. My surprise evolved to pleasant. I do not know if I will ever write a novel set in northern Michigan, but I do know that I thoroughly enjoy the novels in this mystery series by Henry Kisor. The characters are well developed and the stories are fascinating. Cache of Corpses can stand alone if beginning to read there. However, I do recommend starting with Season's Revenge as the first in the series. The maturation of the main character is a classic.

Okay. Here's the opening paragraph: "'It's in the Dying Room,' Jenny Besonen said, voice strained, ample chest heaving. `And it has no head.'" Yes, Deputy Sheriff Steve Two Crow Martinez is back. And fans of his previous adventures - "Season's Revenge" and "A Venture Into Murder" - should take note that this is the best of the three books. In other words, Kisor's books keep getting better. That is really saying something, considering how good the first two books in the series were. This time around, Martinez (of Porcupine County, Michigan) is led to a headless/handless corpse which, as it turns out, has been embalmed. By this point, Martinez must have long-dismissed the myth that Porcupine county is a quiet place to live! But he probably doesn't suspect that this case will drop him into Internet Hell. Oh, yes, he's also running for sheriff against his grumpy old boss...and caring for his girlfriend's foster son, an Ojibwa lad who promptly gets lost in the forest. Those two side issues aren't nearly as exciting as the central mystery...but they at least have the virtue of being connected by their effect on Martinez's thinking process. Kisor has an easy, open style and a firm lock on what constitutes an actual mystery. And his sly jabs at how technology is often inferior to "the old ways" are both valid and amusing.

Once again Henry Kisor comes up with an inventive, nicely plotted story featuring his well-crafted protagonist, Deputy Steve Martinez. The pacing and tone are excellent. Kisor gives us another vivid, charming look at the remote Upper Peninsula of Michigan, not a place where one would expect dead bodies galore to start turning up. Roger L. Conlee (author of "Counterclockwise" and "Every Shape, Every Shadow")

Henry Kisor in his third book of a series takes great pride in the description of his setting for "Cache of Corpses", Porcupine County in the picturesque and bucolic Upper Peninsula of Michigan. His protagonist Deputy Sheriff Steve Martinez has both personal and professional issues which impact his existence. Martinez, a Lakota Indian by birth is considered an outsider despite living in Porcupine for more than 10 years, against a backdrop of a mostly Caucasian populace. His relationship with wealthy local widow Ginny Fitzgerald is being put to the test when she decides to adopt a 12 year old orphaned native American boy Tommy Standing Bear. Martinez has plenty on his plate as he's unofficially assuming the job of Sheriff Eli Garrow. Garrow a deep rooted denizen of Porcupine City has taken an unauthorized sabbatical refusing to go back to work. Martinez was presently campaigning against Garrow for the sheriff's job in the upcoming local election. With all the pressure on Martinez's head a spate of corpses have been turning up with alarming regularity in the territory under his jurisdiction. The corpses are medical cadavers but when one appears to be a homicide victim, the investigation goes into high gear. This rash of cadavers we learn is part of a game originated in an internet chat room that combines the macabre with the latest in global positioning devices in a weird scavenger type hunt. Kisor's plot is creative and he endows a sense of plausibility to his characters especially Martinez who must juggle his personal problems which are becoming compounded by virtue of his investigation.

Cache of Corpses is the third novel about Deputy Steve Martinez of Porcupine County in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. For the third time Henry Kisor has captured the people and countryside giving them the respect and grace they deserve, while delivering a riveting story. Thanks for a great story.