The author has taken a real-life scenario - in this case the 1838-42 United States South Seas Exploring Expedition - and worked a set of mystery plots into it. Very intriguing. This book introduces us to Wiki Coffin, the illegitimate son of a New England sea captain and a Maori woman, who has signed onto the expedition as a Iinguister. Wiki was brought to America as a young boy and soon figured out how to fit in pretty well not an easy task for a colored man in that society. But he wants to travel and so he signs up. Before they even get underway Wiki has been arrested for the murder of the wife of another expedition member. Wiki quickly convinces the sheriff he could not have done it and provides some insight into various clues in fact, he convinces him so well that the sheriff deputizes him to find out the murderer, since the ships are sailing that very day. But whats supposed to be a secret spreads through the ships like wildfire, and soon everyone knows what Wiki is doing, including the real murderer.
Druett is also the author of several non-fiction books about 19th century sailing. The details of life aboard the ship are convincing and there are lots of colorful characters. Wiki himself is an intriguing character with plenty of potential for further adventures. This book was recommended to me since I liked Patrick OBrians Aubrey/Maturin books so much. Alas, when you start with the master nothing else quite measures up,but I still liked Wiki Coffin very much, and I'll probably look for more in the series.

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Interesting setting and time period. Enjoy main character Wiki a lot love discussion of his post and ancestery. Nautical terms were a bit much. Well written.

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I liked this book, but I sometimes wondered if the author was rambling along, not having decided how to end it. Many of the characters seemed simplistic or caricatures of the persons they were representing. While an interesting plot, the story line just seemed to bounce back and forth. However, I did appreciate the novel way she disposed of at least one body and tried to do the same with another.

But be for-warned, while the book ends with the murder solved and the murderer brought to justice (of a sort), it ends as many of the serials that accompanied yesterday's movies did, with a new development introduced and the old story not quite 'put to bed' yet.

So I have the next book WLed.

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