Death in Cold Water

August 22, 2016
Sheriff Dave Cubiak investigates the disappearance of wealthy 82-year-old Gerald Sneider, an avid Green Bay Packer fan known as Mr. Packer, in Skalka’s tangled third mystery set in Wisconsin’s Door County (after 2015’s Death Stalks Door County). A search of Sneider’s home finds a cryptic note: “Pay or he dies”; a similar message turns up at the Packers’ office in Green Bay, prompting a call to Cubiak from FBI special agent Quigley Moore. Although Cubiak is nominally in charge of what the authorities are treating as a kidnapping case, Moore and his assistant agent, Gwen Harrison, virtually take over. Meanwhile, Cubiak becomes interested in an old human bone fragment that his dog discovers on the beach. Further messages from the kidnapper increase the pressure on law-enforcement to break the case. Cubiak talks to a lot of people to find the key to unlock past and present crimes in this competently written tale.

September 15, 2016
On the heels of last year's Death at Gills Rock, Door County sheriff Dave Cubiak continues to learn firsthand about the divide between the haves and have-nots who live in his new home, a popular Wisconsin vacation destination. When philanthropist and major donor to the Green Bay Packers football team Gerald Sneider is kidnapped, the FBI wants to pin it on either terrorists who have been threatening the NFL or the millionaire's debt-ridden son. Cubiak looks for a local angle and finds evidence that Sneider's sponsorship of a home for troubled boys may be the link to the crime. Did one of those boys grow into a troubled man? Still grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, former Chicago cop Cubiak is slowly putting down roots in Door County. This solid midwestern procedural starring a tenacious cop who earns every ounce of respect he receives would pair nicely with Henry Kisor's Steve Martinez series, featuring a county sheriff in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)