Moon Water Madness ebook

What seems to be an urgent request from a twelve year old girl to retrieve her great grandfather from a lake isn't nearly as straightforward as it appears to be in the seventh Luanne Fogarty mystery from Glynn Marsh Alam. Sissy, who lives with assorted family members and boarders on isolated Moon Island, starts a complex investigation into both the present and the past.

After immersing the reader in the lives of her characters of the north Florida swamp county in her previous six books, Alam makes us feel we know these very real people, yet we continue to learn more about them as they keep evolving - much like one does with old friends. Luanne, an adjunct diver for the Sheriff's Department and a linguistics professor at the local university, is as refreshing as ever. Her good friend Pasquin the elderly Cajun gentleman with an endless trove of local stories, boyfriend Vernon, and Tony the no-nonsense detective balance each other well. Alam deftly draws other recurring characters like Edwin who is somewhat of a savant about snakes, but not much else, and the brassy proprietor of a seafood restaurant.

Introduced into this story are the spunky young girl who initiates the investigation into the lives of her family and an adventuresome retired linguistics professor who has language mysteries to address. Alam is equally adept delineating the people who eke out a living in the rural hinterlands as well as those who work in the University setting. The waters of north Florida offer a cast of characters as well: murky sinkholes, clear springs and lakes, the river where humans and reptiles coexist, and the briny waters leading to the coast.

From the descriptions of the local food to the gritty realities of oyster harvesting and shucking, and such nice touches as an evangelical church boat that plies the river -- not to mention the mysterious goings on that are the core of the story -- the reader emerges from the book very well entertained and looking forward to the next story.

Glynn Marsh Alam has added another outstanding cozy to her Luanne Fogarty mystery series, MOON WATER MADNESS. Glynn takes you deep into the land of swamps, dark waters, independent survivors of a forgotten world, the distinctive smell of fresh fried seafood, and the lush growth of a land time has forgotten.
Luanne is character that is easy for the reader to identify with as they follow her story. Who hasn't struggled with a career gone stale, a love affair that threatens a hard won independence, but discovered a need to help a young child without the entanglements of parenthood?
Sissy Moon comes to Luanne for help, discovers a friend who cares enough to bring in the law when necessary without betraying a trust.
This is a cozy you will enjoy, even if it doesn't allow you to escape reality.
Nash Black, author of Indie finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS.

Good suspense, great characters, not a pleasant story line but unfortunately it is true to life.

Adjunct scuba diver and linguistics professor Luanne Fogarty returns for a seventh adventure and, as always, the mysterious swamp that she calls home yields a few more of its secrets. A girl of no more than 12 years of age navigates the river to Luanne's home and asks for help. The girl, Sissy, claims that her grandfather, Oscar, walked into Moon Lake in 1959 and never resurfaced. However, the girl also claims that both she and her grandmother Beatrice have heard Oscar's ghostly calls at night.

Luanne discovers the family's island, Moon Island, which is populated with snakes, eccentric characters (the aforementioned Sissy and Beatrice, and Corwin, Sissy's father) and possibly illegal aliens who migrate from South and Central America and Mexico to work the oyster boats. Alam's descriptions of the swamp as well as its inhabitants make all her stories shine; part of a chapter also discusses the dangerous work of oystermen. As always, Luanne is aided in her search for Oscar by Vernon, her love; Pasquin, her elderly Cajun neighbor, and his friend Edwin; and Tony, the somewhat antifeminist detective who reluctantly uses Luanne in his investigations. Two more characters are added to the mix: Rachel Moon, a semi-retired teacher who is Oscar's cousin and who holds secrets of her own regarding Moon Island and Iris, a retired professor who studies the unique language of Sissy and her family.

There's an adage that states 'write what you know' and, to her credit, Alam writes skillfully of northern Florida's swamplands and rivers, sinkholes, and raw natural beauty. Her mysteries are always solid and very realistic; she doesn't create superhuman serial killers like Hannibal Lecter; rather, she writes about humans who have made serious mistakes and how they react and deal with what they've done (both to themselves and others). She deserves a wider readership.