Another good mystery involving Jessie Arnold, a sled dog racer in Alaska. Jessie hurt her knee if the summer falling on a mountain, so cannot race her dogs this year. Alex has returned to Alaska - deciding he much prefers it to Idaho. He took a job in Idaho after his father died to keep an eye on his mother. She let him know she didn't need an extra eye. So, he returned to Alaska and his job as a state trooper - and Jessie. They are circling one another carefully, trying to get used to each other again. Jessie and Alex are invited by Jim and Laurie to come out to Five Finger Lighthouse in the inner passage and help them to restore it. They are having a working party of friends to try to help get the lighthouse in shape before winter. They intend to turn the lighthouse into a bed and breakfast and whale watching station. The lighthouse is solar-powered and automated, so they don't have to deal with that part - maintenance people come out to check on it. Jessie is delighted at the chance to stay at the lighthouse, but Alex has a joint task force meeting with the RCMP. So, Jessie goes alone, flying part of the way and Jim, who is coming to Petersburg for roofing material, will meet her at the dock and take her back to the light. Jessie has met a woman at the airport, Karen, who invites herself to dinner with Jessie the evening she arrives in Petersburg. She claims she is running from a stalker who has somehow managed to follow her to Petersburg. She has seen him and thinks he has seen her. Jessie invites her to join the work party at the lighthouse. Karen agrees. Joe Cooper, who is following Karen, is exasperated to see her slip from his grasp into the boat. Jessie has promised to call Alex, and does so, although cell phone service is iffy, to let him know she has arrived and tells him a little about Karen. The next day, Laurie takes Jessie and some of the others to the sound end of the island through a small woods. They reach the end and see the resident sea lion (the island is only 3 miles long and the lighthouse is on the northern end) and eagle. They also discover a body on the beach. When they return to the lighthouse, Jessie's cell phone is missing - Sandra is missing - Jim's cell phone has been tampered with - the radio is smashed - their boat, with it's radio, has been sunk. They have no way to reach Petersburg to get the police or any help. Something strange is definitely going on. The dead man on the beach is not one of them - so where did his body come from? how did he get there? And the situation deteriorates further...... Fortunately, Alex is getting suspicious and upset over not receiving another call from Jessie.
I read this while on a boat trip in the general vicinity of Five Finger Light, and found it interesting mainly for that reason. While on medical leave from her life as a dog sled racer, Jesse Arnold heads out to Five Finger Lighthouse near Petersburg, Alaska, to help friends restore the lighthouse on the isolated three-square mile island. On her way, she adopts a mysterious stranger, Karen, who is intent on escaping a pursuer. Touring the island on her first day there, the women discover a dead body. There may be a connection to cocaine that is then discovered in the basement of the lighthouse. In short order, all forms of communication with the mainland are cut, the boat is scuttled, and the lighthouse renovators start disappearing.Jesse attempts to determine what is going on single-handedly but is fortunate that Alex, her lover newly returned from Idaho, meets up with Joe Cooper, the man in pursuit of Karen, and together the two men rescue Jesse and the other captives on the island.The book is less evocative of the isolated setting than I had expected, and Jesse is less the strong protagonist I had hoped for. I found the author's tendency to beat the reader over the head with clues annoying, and I didn't appreciate the heavy-handed foreshadowing; for instance, when Henry ends a chapter with, "...they hadn't a notion just how decidedly things could -- and would -- change in the next few hours." In spite of its shortcomings, the book is a quick read and kept my interest. The first in the series, MURDER ON THE IDITAROD TRAIL, won both the Anthony and Macavity Awards for best first novel, so I'll head back to the author's start for my next dip into Henry's Alaskan world.
Do You like book Murder At Five Finger Light (2006)?
tMURDER AT FIVE FINGER LIGHT by Sue Henry is like an updated Agatha Christie novel. A group of strangers gather at a remote location, they are cut off from civilization through a series of clever events, and death stalks among them. Unlike a Christie, this one occurs on a small lighthouse island in Alaska and the hero of the tale, Jessie Arnold (in her 11th outing) is very proactive.tThe plan to help out a couple of friends to renovate a lighthouse over the course of a weekend, but toss in a female abuse victim to tag along, a mysterious stranger tracking her, some narcotics and other influences, and you have a tightly plotted mystery with plenty of unexpected twists.
—Tom Donaghey
Sue Henry usually likes to do a little bit of travelogue in her writings. Sometimes this can be taken to an extreme, at the expense of plot or characterization (or, in "The Refuge", both). However, usually, especially when staying within the confines of Alaska, she's quite good at mixing the two. "Murder at Five Finger Light" is such a book.It's also a good example of Christie's "locked room" mystery (in this case, "locked room" = "isolated island"). When done right, these can be quite intriguing, and this one IS done right. Although, I should note that it took a significant percentage of the book to set up the mystery. (Exact percentage withheld to avoid spoiler.)An enjoyable "read" (although I listened to it read to me on audio during my commute to/from work.)
—Andrew
