I do love a good mystery. And it’s even better when there’s a mystery inside a mystery. Lots to keep you guessing and on your toes in Isolation!
Enjoy my review.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.
Isolation
A Faye Longchamp Mystery
by Mary Anna Evans
Genre: Mystery, Women Sleuths
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: August 4, 2015
Number of Pages: 284
Series: A Faye Longchamp Mystery, 9
ISBN: 9781464204029
My Review
This has all the makings for a good mystery.
A family torn apart by tragedy, isolation on a private island, toxic spills, murder, stalkers, and all of this might possibly be connected to a mysterious history. I was hooked already!
Being a fan of character driven stories, this didn’t disappoint.
There’s Faye Longchamp – Mantooth. She’s coping the only way she knows how after a terrible loss. She spends every waking minute and most nights prowling the island and doing random digs. Not herself at all. Being a professional archaeologist, she knows better. You need to investigate, do the math, before digging. I think she’s just trying to stay numb.
Her husband, Joe Wolf Mantooth, is such a gentle soul. He loves his wife and patiently waits for her to come around, knowing she needs time to grieve and heal. In the meantime, he takes care of their young son, Michael, making sure he’s happy and loved. When things go wiggy and bodies start adding up, he goes into alpha mode. I loved the gentle bear and the warrior spirit of Joe.
Joe’s father, Sly Mantooth, out after serving time in prison, shows up on their doorstep and they invite him to stay awhile. Faye hopes the two will stay out of her hair, and Joe’s looking to get reconnected with his father. I like Sly. He’s a diamond in the rough. He keeps his thoughts to himself, unless a pretty gal is around. Then the charmer, the ladies man, comes out to play. There was one particular lady I wanted him to get better acquainted with. I hoped the author would grant my wish.
Not just a murder mystery, there’s also the mystery of Faye’s ancestor. Some people want to prove her great-great-grandmother Cally was a murderer. Faye’s having none of it and launches her own investigation, keeping their relationship secret while she works to clear Cally’s name. Not so easy when you’re going back 150 years.
A strange toxic find on the island, chemical dumps in the gulf, murder and violent attacks. Could all of this be random events or do they all tie together? I couldn’t wait to find out.
Though this is the ninth book in the Faye Longchamp Mystery Series, it can easily be read as a stand alone. I’ve not the read the other books and with some short mentions of past events, had no trouble reading this first.
Good clean fun, with no sex scenes or foul language.
4 Stars
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Synopsis
Archaeologist Faye Longchamp-Mantooth has dug herself a deep hole and she can’t make her way out of it. As she struggles to recover from a shattering personal loss, she sees that everyone she loves is trying to reach out to her. If only she could reach back. Instead she’s out digging holes all over her home, the Florida island of Joyeuse.
In their old plantation home, Joe Wolf Mantooth is surrounded by family—Faye, the wife he loves; their toddler son he adores; and his father, who hasn’t gotten around to telling him how long he’s been out of prison or how he got there—yet Joe has never felt so helpless or alone.
Then a close friend at the local marina is brutally murdered, the first in a string of crimes against women that rocks Micco County. Joe, desperate to help Faye, realizes she is in danger from both her inner demons and someone who has breached the island’s isolation. Local law and environmental officials say they want to help, but to Faye and Joe they feel more like invaders. A struggling Faye reaches back over a century into her family’s history for clues. And all the while, danger snakes further into their lives, threatening the people they love, their cherished home, even the very ground—some of it poisoned—beneath their feet.
Purchase Links
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Author Mary Anna Evans
Mary Anna Evans is the author of the award-winning Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries–Artifacts, Relics, Effigies, Findings, Floodgates, Strangers, and Plunder. She has degrees in physics and chemical engineering. Her background includes stints in environmental consulting and university administration, as well as a summer spent working offshore in the oil fields. Writing lets her spend weeks indulging her passion for history, archeology, and architecture, and months making up stories. Mary Anna is preparing to move to Oklahoma since accepting an Associate Professor position with the University of Oklahoma.
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