Pepperfish Keys

This book has caused me to miss sleep. Warning--you will not be able to put it down. It is Bear at his best!

Darryl Wimberley hails from Florida, but graduate from the Air Force Academy in Colorado. He also holds an M.A. in English Literature and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He presently lives in Austin, Texas. PEPPERFISH KEYS is his seventh Barrett Raines mystery. Barrett Raines is the unusual detective who could have had his pick of positions, but who settled in Deacon Beach in Northern Florida. Raines is also African-American, which makes his job that much more difficult in backwater Florida. He has already survived the murder of Ramona, with his brother as chief suspect. His relationship with his wife, which has its rocky moments, is rapidly deteriorating. He has become Special Agent Barrett "Bear" Raines in PEPPERFISH KEYS. To this end he must investigate the murder of Beth Ann Stanton, the daughter of Florida Senator Baxter Stanton. Raines and Stanton have tangled just recently over possible illegal campaign activity. Beth Ann, ever the rebel, has a relationship with one of the areas true dirt bags, a punk named Eddy DeLeon. To make matters worse, ambitious and bitchy TV reporter Sharon Fowler is using Raines as a stepping stone to a promotion in New York: "'Eduardo DeLeon did not kill Beth Ann Stanton,' she repeated evenly. 'He may be a thief. He may even be in bed with Baxter Stanton, something that thanks to you two we may never know. But he didn't kill Beth Ann Stanton. I am confident he did not.' 'Confident enough to, say, supply us a witness?' 'I never reveal my sources, Bear. You know that.' 'You've ambushed a few.' 'My privilege. More than that - my right.'" Wimberley's Bear Raines is a gentle giant with a huge heart and shrewd mind. His plot is tight and fast, with the facades of his characters peeling away layer-by-layer as the plot thickens. Wimberley's Air Force experience has, no doubt, taught him the ways and means of both politics and law enforcement. He uses his knowledge to create a monster of a thriller and murder mystery that keeps the reader glued to the book until the final coup de grace. A riveting and masterful mystery! Shelley Glodowski Senior Reviewer

If you have read the other Barrett Raines mysteries, settling down with this book is like a visit from an old friend. What's happened in his life since the last time you were together? One catches up and leaves with a feeling of utter satisfaction. If, somehow, you have missed the other books in the series, read this one and discover one of the better storytellers writing today. Once you have sampled Darryl Wimberley's work, I am certain that you will rush to buy more. Wimberley writes with a native's eye to detail of this largely-unknown part of Florida; he respects the land enough to bring us into its mysteries as a couple eases into intimacy and comfort with each other. We see what Bear sees, feel what he feels, and together we stumble and grope toward solving a gruesome and sensational murder. We meet the suspects, puzzle over inconsistencies, rush to judgement, and mourn over tragedies. I consider myself a pretty savvy reader, but I readily admit that I never saw the end coming. Along the way, we meet ancillary characters who seem to be real people, worthy of our attention. The story unfolds at the perfect pace, neither rushing nor dawdling, until the reader turns the page and realizes, with a start, that there is nothing more to read; what's better, there is a perfect ending, with the scales balanced and no more story left--for now. As with good friends, we know that Bear will be back, and we'll be waiting.

Pepperfish Keys is set along the northwestern coast of Florida's Big Bend. The area is a little backward in some ways, it seems. Special Agent Barrett Raines, a.k.a., Bear, is the first of very few African-American investigators working for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Bear is not at a good time in his life. His wife Laura Ann who runs a local restaurant is suffering from a depression that she doesn't seem to be able to shake off. Bear and the boys are just trying to keep up a normal family life until Laura recovers. Sharon Fowler, local newswoman, has had a hey-day with the fact that an investigation run by Agent Raines has been stopped by a local judge. Raines was in the process of investigating Senator Baxter Stanton suddenly increased funds for his election campaign. Bear was receiving information from Taylor Calhoun, a secret source, but Taylor has disappeared. When Senator Stanton's daughter Beth Ann is found murdered in the Senator's mansion, all kinds of questions seem to surface. Eddy DeLeon, a real skudbag, and a dealer in stolen films as well as other illegal operations, seems to be a big part of the picture. As the investigation proceeds, Bear finds that he must depend more than he would like on newswoman Sharon Fowler as a source. Dew Drop, Sharon's camera man, is tired of Sharon's overbearing ways and decides he is going to get a piece of the action when Sharon makes her goal of being a New York TV celebrity. There are several exciting mysteries in this story and Bear has to work his way through them. The story is exciting and the characters are very real. Some you will have sympathy for and some will disgust you but the author pulls it all together to make a great story with just a few surprises at the end. I have missed Wimberley's other books in this series but I do intend to correct that. Armchair Interviews says: Another good book in this wonderful series.

Florida Senator Baxter Stanton, running for reelection in the northwestern coast, knows the importance of being a good old boy to the whites, who make up most of the voters in towns like Pepperfish Keys. However, his election chances take an odd spin when his daughter Beth Ann Stanton is found brutally murdered in the family mansion. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special agent Barrett "Bear" Raines investigates the homicide and his first reaction is there is an unproven link between Stanton and criminal Eddy DeLeon, who was also the victim's boyfriend. Raines being "a black cop in a white town" gets little cooperation from anyone associated with the case except local TV reporter Sharon Fowler, who sees the cop and the senator as her ticket to Tallahassee and beyond. She offers to help him nail DeLeon; he accepts though his gut tells him to look elsewhere for the motive. This is a terrific police procedural that returns to readers a fabulous protagonist who has been away for several years (see A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE, DEADMAN'S BAY and STRAWMAN'S HAMMOCK). The story line is fast-paced and filled with plausible twists that will stun the audience as the prime characters play a sort of cat and mouse game with each of the lead trio wanting to control their tango. Darryl Wimberley provides a superb Florida whodunit in which Bear's fans will want his next engagement soon. Harriet Klausner