cover image The St. Lawrence Run

The St. Lawrence Run

Stephen F. Wilcox. St. Martin's Press, $16.95 (244pp) ISBN 978-0-312-04430-5

Wilcox's The Dry White Tear initiated the career of Timothy Seamus Wolfe (T.S.W.) Sheridan, a writer and amateur sleuth. Investigating the recent murder of a history professor, Sheridan, at his humorous and daring best, is drawn to the site of an old tragedy. In 1937, bootleggers burned Castle House, on one of New York State's Thousand Islands, killing 18 people locked inside. At the island called Widowsok Cape, Sheridan meets an old-timer, Howard Johnson, who brags about having known the principals in that case. Johnson, however, offers no clues to the recent murder, which is possibly linked to the Castle House holocaust. The detective is at first courteously discouraged by the sheriff and leading citizens; their failed efforts escalate into death-dealing blows at the ``snoop'' and several of his allies as he uncovers the terrifying secrets of crooks meaner than the lowest Prohibition-days booze smugglers. A lusty tale told by a master. (June)