White Sand Blues

August 1, 2017
Canadian crime writer Delany (Blood and Belonging, 2017) has a variety of series to her credit, including one featuring RCMP Sergeant Ray Robertson, and with this concise, easily comprehended mystery she launches a new line featuring paramedic Ashley Grant. Intent on making a good impression on her new job, Ashley has invested in fancy clothes, only to destroy them as she wades into the sea to retrieve a dead man. She has fled Toronto for the tiny Caribbean nation called Victoria and Albert Islands, grabbing at the lifeline of a one-year contract after her boyfriend's wrenching betrayal. Quickly embroiled in a murder investigation sparked by the divergent claims of the victim's wife and daughter, Ashley soon discovers that she isn't the only escapee from the Canadian cold in this alleged island paradise. Delany makes excellent use of a highly accessible narrative style, keeping her language simple while unspooling an intriguingly tangled plot in which Ashley's acute observational skills and stubborn and accurate sleuthing attract the initially skeptical, increasingly admiring attention of a handsome former Mountie serving as an island policeman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)