Death on the Mississippi

Anyone who is a fan of Mark Twain will enjoy this book. This delightful debut of Detective Clemens includes an exciting riverboat trip on the Mississippi, a tale of buried treasure, a gang of tricky gamblers, and tons of period detail. Peter J. Heck's portrayal of Twain is every bit believable from his quick wit to his southern drawl. He and his traveling secretary, Wentworth Cabot, make an unusual team. I found this book to be suspenseful, entertaining, and informative. It left me wanting to read more.

William Wentworth Cabot has just graduated from Yale, and for his first job, he becomes Mark Twain's traveling secretary. Interested in travel, Wentworth is over his head when a body is found in New York with Mark Twain's name in his pocket. Does it have anything to do with Twain's plans to dig up a fortune in gold mid-trip? And is the killer on board their ship all the way on the Mississippi?This book is an enjoyable jaunt down the Mississippi with Mark Twain on a riverboat. The main characters were enjoyable, and I especially enjoyed the portrayal of Twain. The plot was a little weak, however. The information on riverboats and the river was interesting, but too much attention was paid to it, with little advancing the story. Still, once a second body is found, the plot kicks into high gear. I was caught off guard by the revelation of the killer, but everything fit together logically.I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this historic mystery series.

Peter J. Heck's lifelong interest in Samuel Clemens (and his nom de plume, Mark Twain) has here fostered a new series of historical mysteries featuring the esteemed American writer, accompanied by the fictional Wentworth Cabot, who narrates the books. Murder dogs Clemens and Wentworth Cabot prior to and during the Mississippi riverboat lecture tour that is the centerpiece of the story. The description of the towns Clemens and Cabot encounter and the vignettes of riverboat sailing are done succinctly but with an eye for period detail. Heck also manages to avoid the horrors of dialect writing and still makes his characters believable. And it is a cast of real characters, including the Throckmorton Brothers, hot on the trail of a treasure in gold; "Slippery Ed" McPhee, a riverboat gambler looking for an easy mark; and Major Demayne, whose poetry writing serves as a humorous counterpoint to the mystery investigation. A nice touch: a map of the Mississippi in the front of the book enables the reader to follow the course of the "Horace Greeley" with a little more geographical certainty. Heck's obvious love for his subject material makes up for having everyone gather in the "drawing room" (in this case, the riverboat's salon) to hear Clemen's denouement, and a host of secondary characters who serve as a legion of red herrings. The mystery is engaging, the characters crisply drawn, and last but certainly not least, Mark Twain is an entertaining, interesting detective.