A LONELY JOURNEY’S END

A small-town lawyer investigates the murder of an immigrant in this second installment of a mystery series.

It’s the summer of 2005, and attorney Ned Johnston is looking forward to surfing and playing vintage records in Oceanic Park. But changes are afoot in the small town. The new Oceanic Park Plaza Hotel is hosting the rich and powerful at the Economic Freedom Foundation’s annual conference. The town council is proposing an ordinance to restrict performers on the boardwalk, and a slew of anti-immigrant posters has suddenly appeared. The posters offer vile rhetoric, and then Silvia Viejo, a Mexican immigrant, is found murdered at a local marina. After Ned reads about the crime, Cabin writes: “Knowing the identity of the victim didn’t seem to clarify things much…lots of questions remained. Had the victim been targeted for a specific reason? Or had she been chosen at random simply because she was a migrant worker and the killer or killers wanted to send a message?” The police arrest Bradley Cawthorne, the son of a B&B owner, as the likely culprit. Ned agrees to represent him and discovers that Bradley is just a fall guy for a far more sinister plot. The highlight of Cabin’s novel is the depiction of Oceanic Park as a place that feels real and lived in. The story also successfully captures the tumultuous post-9/11 politics of the George W. Bush era. As a protagonist, Ned tends to fade into the background a bit, easily overshadowed by the more colorful supporting characters. This is mainly due to the central murder not taking place until 96 pages in. In addition, the author doesn’t always effectively balance a murder mystery that has strong elements of political intrigue with quirky tales of life in Oceanic Park. But despite the story’s dark, xenophobic themes, the book manages to maintain the feel of an engaging beach read until the last 50 pages, when the drama and violence ratchet up. The tale concludes with a rushed series of events that leaves Ned superfluous to the action-packed narrative. While the ending neatly fits in with the story’s political themes about the abuse of power, it dilutes the mystery’s impact.

An exciting but uneven crime tale with an evocative setting.