Island Murders

Delightful read! I found both of the Canada books in a gift shop while visiting Wilmington this summer. What luck for me! I couldn't put this first book down, and once completed moved on to the second book in the Davenport series. Even though a bit predictable, I found the characters very full and realistically presented. I immediately formed images of several, as if I were watching the story on film. Especially Carroll, Ben, her grandmother and Randolph. As others have reviewed, both books are page-turners. I'm not sure I've read anything recently that has so much action, so frequently. Almost every other page has a surprising encounter, explosion, or conflict for our main character. It's fun to read books like this when the author has captured the settings so well.....like a photograph, or painting. Canada makes you feel you are in the Wilmington area, breathing the air and hearing the river sounds from the Cape Fear....with the characters! I had to check my body for scratches and bruises from the fights and singed eyebrows from the fires!

SHE IS A GREAT WRITER I DISCOVED IN A SMALL TOWN BOOKSHOP. THESE ARE REAL CHARACTERS WHO I CAN REALLY SEE IN MY MIND. ENJOY

Island Murders is a suspenseful, provocative, hard-hitting and satisfying mystery. It resonates with deliciously authentic situations, dialogue and locations in that most exotic locale, Wilmington, North Carolina; but it is the emotional complexity of the characters and the depth of the plot that are the novels real strengths. Here is a horror story as much as a mystery, in which our hero is haunted by memories that profoundly impact all of the characters. Author Wanda Canada has introduced a complex new mystery hero, Carroll Davenport, who tells her story with a wry candor that is clean, evocative, and direct. The second novel in the Carroll Davenport series, "Cape Fear Murders," fulfills the promise of this first entry. Both are enthusiastically recommended for mystery fans. David R. Bannon, Ph.D.; author, "Race Against Evil."

This book is one of the best mysteries I have ever read! It grabs you by the second page with murders and mysterious characters everywhere. There are constantly more twists being thrown at you. Once you pick this book up you can't put it down. If you like mysteries, and even if you don't, I would recommend this book.

In the genre of Margaret Maron, done even better. You can't put it down. There's a body on every page to keep you enthralled. I just hope Mrs. Canada will write some more! I've given copies to all my friends. Really fun reading - and I don't usually like mysteries.