A Few Dying Words - Hardcover

Gosling, Paula

3.6

68 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 089296510X ISBN 13: 9780892965106

Publisher: Mysterious Pr, 1994

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Resigning himself to the annual mayhem of the Blackwater Bay Halloween Festival, sheriff Matt Gabriel is disturbed by the dying words of an old friend after a car crash and begins investigating an old town secret involving several prominent citizens.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

Here's a major headache for Sheriff Matt Gabriel of Great Lakes summer-vacation paradise Blackwater (The Body in Blackwater Bay, 1992, etc.): His old friend Tom Finnegan gets into a fatal car crash--his dying words hint darkly about ``Jacky Morgan''--just in time for Blackwater's annual Halloween Festival, aka the Howl, a Great Lakes Mardi Gras when anything goes among the normally sane citizenry, from decorating public statuary to ambushing strollers in the park. A tour among Blackwater's gossips reveals that Jacky Morgan was a sneaky scamp who was killed years and years ago when he went over Eagle Head ravine (elevation 175 ft.) in a barrel--as witnessed by half a dozen other boys who are now the town fathers. Tom, dying of cancer, was obviously going to blow the whistle on one of the bunch, but which one? Things don't get any easier for Matt or for fledgling lawyer Dominic Pritchard, when the Eagle Head contingent (including reclusive furniture-polish mogul Albert Budd) comes together for the first time in 30 years at the Howl--only to have their numbers reduced by one. Gosling's leisurely pace has all the time in the world for minor characters and digressive episodes, like the gem in which Matt's colleague Tilly Moss runs Albert down. But the tired plot and luxurious detail eventually wear you out, like a nursing-home visit to a loquacious uncle. -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Blackwater Bay, a small resort town on the Great Lakes, pretty well closes down when the summer folks are gone--except for Halloween, when the locals hold a "barbeques and bonfires" event called "the Howl," when masked tricksters young, old, and middle-aged play practical jokes, create mischief, and outdo each other with crazy pranks such as painting cats and covering houses with tinfoil. Sheriff Matt Gabriel puts up with the silliness, most of which is innocent and funny. But the most recent Howl turns serious when Matt is called to investigate a nasty traffic accident that severely injures one of his old friends, Tom Finnegan. Finnegan makes a cryptic deathbed "confession" to Matt, a confession that alludes to something terrible that happened during a Howl 30 years earlier. Matt, with the help of young lawyer Dominic Pritchard, begins to investigate and soon discovers some sinister truths about Blackwater Bay's leading citizens and their not-so-innocent pasts. Good writing, an inventive plot, and a nice balance of humor and horror make this an appealing mystery but not an outstanding one. For larger collections. Emily Melton

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