Shiver Hitch

April 17, 2017
In Greenlaw’s insipid third Jane Bunker mystery (after 2008’s Fisherman’s Bend), Jane’s boss at Marine Insurance Consultants Company tasks the 43-year-old claims investigator and assistant deputy sheriff with surveying fire damage done to a home on Maine’s Acadia Island. Jane finds the charred corpse of owner Midge Kohl among the building’s ruins, but assumes that the death and conflagration were accidental. What little evidence she collects, however, points to arson and Midge’s likely murder. Despite her shoddy detective skills (and the fact that Maine sheriffs’ departments don’t investigate homicides), the Hancock County sheriff places Jane in charge of the case, asserting that the former Miami cop has more experience in “such things” than “even the Maine State Police.” Nasty weather, tight-lipped locals, and spotty cell phone service complicate Jane’s efforts. Greenlaw—a fisherwoman and bestselling nonfiction author—writes evocatively about small-town life and harsh Maine winters, but her novel’s strong sense of place fails to compensate for its uneven tone, preposterous plotting, and two-dimensional characters.