BROAD REACH

A Navy veteran’s plans to open a dive shop are anything but smooth sailing when his friend and business partner gets arrested for murder.

This second Sim Greene mystery finds the retired sailor and ex–Navy cop in his natural habitat: aboard his cherished boat, Figaro, sailing toward the Caribbean. He is on the last leg of a three-month voyage from California to the British Virgin Islands, where he plans to open a dive shop with Al, his friend and new business partner. The eight consecutive days of stiff winds he encounters on the last leg of his journey are nothing compared to what awaits him. “You got big troubles coming, mon,” prophesies an amiable bar and restaurant owner. Sure enough, Sim learns that Al has been arrested for the murder of tourist Bradley Somerset. Sim has no doubt that Al did not commit the homicide, although he acknowledges he is far from innocent. In fact, Al has a perfectly good alibi, but he refuses to use it. He had been with a married woman. Sim’s investigation rankles the local constabulary. “You have no authority here and I will not tolerate any interference with our investigation,” he is told. But this would be a short book if Sim backed down. Sim, as one shady character tells him, is “the guy who can’t mind his own damned business.” Avery knows his way around an ocean as well as crime novel conventions. The “postcard-beautiful” paradise he vividly renders (“In the Caribbean, the fragrant smell of frangipani blossoms hits you about the same time you see the white, sandy beaches”) hides some very dark doings perpetrated by characters who enjoy otherwise spotless reputations and whom the authorities consider “totally untouchable.” A climactic confrontation aboard the Figaro is tautly rendered. For someone who spends much of his time on the water, Sim is firmly grounded and mostly free of the contrived, smart-ass commentary that plagues many wannabe Sam Spades.

No beach required; this engaging mystery will float the boat of detective fiction fans.