If Ed McBain, the Edgar Award winning mystery writer, suggested you convert your short story into a novel, I’m sure you’d take his advice. I’m glad Bruce DeSilva did just that. The result is Rogue Island, a mystery set in Providence, Rhode Island. Liam Mulligan is a newspaper reporter and his childhood neighborhood is going up in smoke…literally. Someone is burning down the houses, killing people in the process.
Mulligan knows every crook in Providence, from the Mayor on down to the mob, the bookies and their lawyers. He knows the inept fire investigators who he’s labeled Dumb and Dumber. He knows the fire chief, the first female fire chief in the city’s history. He knows everyone. Yet, he’s stumped. Because he can’t pinpoint the arsonist. But he will. No doubt about it.
On the back cover of the book, Harlan Coben describes Mulligan as a ‘droll hero’ and Michael Connelly states DeSilva writes “…with genuine authority, a dose of cynical humor, and a squinting eye on the world…” DeSilva has created memorable characters, a cynical protagonist and a fiery plot.
If you’re looking for a mystery author who writes with intelligence and wit, a book with action, then Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva is your book. Both the author and I are sad that Ed McBain didn’t live to read it.
– posted by Ed, Reference Services
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