Death Washes Ashore
A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery #6
Patricia Skalka
University of Wisconsin Press, April 2021
ISBN 978-0-299-32820-7
Hardcover
A huge storm has hit the shores of Lake Michigan, washing all sorts of strange objects ashore. One of them is a knight in full armor, and he is very dead. Called away from cleaning debris from his own piece of storm worried beachfront, Sheriff Dave Cubiak can’t help but wonder why a man would go out in a boat in a storm wearing a full set of medieval armor. The answer is, he wouldn’t. Murder is indicated. The first step to solving the problem is discovering the man’s identity and where he came from. Only then can Cubiak discover why he was murdered and who wanted him dead.
Several people, as it happens.
As usual in a Cubiak mystery, we meet many suspicious characters as the story unfolds. Also as we often do, a great many of them have motives and opportunity, and are apt to be unpleasant characters perhaps worthy of murder themselves. It’s up to Cubiak, helped by his loyal deputy, whom with insight and proper sleuthing, gets to the bottom of the knight’s murder.
Always well-written, a good many twists enliven what could’ve been a bit repetitious and slow.
I’d never heard of larping. However, I’ve now learned Live Action Role Playing, in which enthusiasts don costumes and props associated with a particular fantasy world or historical period, and act out the roles of their characters, is very much a thing. So thank you, author Patricia Skalka, for teaching this reader something new.
Reviewed by Carol Crigger, July 2021.
http://www.ckcrigger.com
Author of The Woman Who Built A Bridge (Spur Award Winner), Yester’s Ride,
Hometown Burning and Six Dancing Damsels: A China Bohannon Mystery
Buried Under Books 