Liquid Shades of Blue is an excellent first mystery novel by James Polkinghorn.
Set in Florida, it is about Jack Girard, a lawyer turned bar owner who must reluctantly return home after his mother’s apparent suicide. The title is way cool too
Jack Girard does not want to go back to Miami. This would mean he would have to deal with his successful lawyer father known to everyone as The Duke. The Duke is the one who harmed Jack’s legal career and why he is now a bar owner and part time member of the bar in Key West.
The Duke believes his wife’s suicide is in fact a murder committed by drug king pin Julio Guzman who whitewashes money through a successful healthcare network. The Duke does not want the police to think the suicide is anything but as he has a few things to hide too.
Jack Girard is on his own but not without a few of the requisite resources a character in a mystery novel must have such as a personal connection to Miami PD and a private detective who knows a lot of people in law enforcement.
Girard learns there was a meaningful someone in his mother’s life and the mystery deepens.
The solve is interesting if a bit abrupt. I would also have liked a bit more atmospherics but that’s just me.
Liquid Shades of Blue by James Polkinghorn is a great first mystery novel. I look forward to more from this author.
Liquid Shades of Blue
James Polkinghorn
Oceanview Publishing 2023
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