The Fisher Boy

Ingenious plotting and witty prose lift Anable's distinctive debut, set mainly on Cape Cod. Soon after Bostonian Mark Winslow and his comedy improv troupe arrive in Provincetown for the summer season to play the club scene, someone leaves a dead dog on a prominent socialite's doorstep, which may be a veiled warning to the resort's gay population. Meanwhile, members of a homophobic religious sect known as Christian Soldiers flood the town during an exhibition of the work of (fictional) painter Thomas Royall, whose 1916 nude portrait, The Fisher Boy , has fascinated Mark since childhood. When Mark's old prep school friend, Ian Drummond, has his throat slashed late one night on a jetty, Mark fears he may be a suspect in the murder because the two had a very public spat at a club shortly before. Mark's search for Ian's killer leads him to a sinister Nordic-style cult at the site of Royall's failed artist colony on the Cape. A profusion of diverting red herrings and a clever twist involving Mark's parentage help keep the suspense high through to the surprising conclusion. (May)