Apparition Island: The Windjammer Mystery Series

In LeClair’s sparkling fourth Windjammer mystery (after 2013’s Cold Coast), Minneapolis PD homicide detective Brie Beaumont, who’s on a leave of absence, winds up serving as the second mate aboard the Maine Wind. With a hurricane moving up the Maine coast, the sailboat’s captain opts to head for anchorage at Apparition Island, where Brie spots a body floating offshore. A local man identifies the victim as Claire Whitehall, a freelance journalist gathering material for a story on the “lobster wars” on the outer islands. A chance discovery leads Brie, now attached to the Maine State Police, to a link between Claire’s death and that of Blythe Danes Whitehall, a beautiful but insecure woman murdered on the island in 1958. Prying information from the tight-knit islanders is both difficult and dangerous, and long-festering secrets threaten to claim Brie as another victim. LeClair handles the island’s rugged terrain and its rugged inhabitants equally well. (Mar.)