The Mermaid Murders

The Mermaid Murders (2015) Josh Lanyon

Sam Kennedy is the FBI’s most famous manhunter–someone who finds and helps capture serial killers. But his last case was bad press for everyone involved, and now Jason West is being pulled from vacation to temporarily partner with Kennedy on a murder that might be tied to a case Kennedy solved years ago–and started with the murder of Jason’s best friend.

But Jason isn’t being sent to help solve the murder. He’s being sent to look for evidence that Kennedy has gone off the rails.

The other issue is that on a previous case, Jason was shot, and he’s afraid he’s lost his edge.

Having been shot once, the normal human reaction was to wish passionately never to repeat the experience. To do anything to avoid repeating the experience.

Which unfortunately did not necessarily square with the duties and responsibilities of an FBI special agent. Even an agent on the FBI’s Art Crime Team. It wasn’t all lecturing museums and galleries on how to protect their priceless collections. Sometimes it came down to bad guys with guns, bad guys who were ready and willing to blow a hole in your chest to stop you from interfering with their multimillion-dollar business.

No shame in a healthy fear of being shot. It didn’t mean Jason couldn’t still do his job.

That was the sub plot that really got to me. The idea that someone in law enforcement who was shot might lose their nerve–but still be good at what they do. That’s something I don’t think I’ve ever come across before in a mystery, and it was very interesting.

The other sub plot that I found really interesting appeared later.

Kennedy drew a deep breath. “I made the decision a long time ago that this job did not allow for anything other than… this job.”

This entire story is from Jason’s POV, and he has his own issues with the crime and the town, so we don’t really think about what damage the job has done to Kennedy.

It was an interesting mystery, and I quite enjoyed it.

Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
Rating: 8/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• The Boy with the Painful Tattoo » »
• « « So This is Christmas