Oyster Blues
Michael McClelland
Pocket, Feb 2004, $6.99
ISBN: 0743477316

Waking up to a hangover in the Dominican Republic, loser sleuth Harry Harper pulls out his gun and fires at two bugs scoring more than he was. His bullets go through the thin walls and kill the "lover" of his landlady. Harry is on the lam though he remains unaware that he murdered a chicken. He agrees to sail back to the states with a coffin containing obviously a corpse (hint: nothing is obvious when it comes to Harry).

In Florida, Harry meets oyster shucker Jane Ellen Ashley. Before anyone knows why, she gives up her only love reading to join him on the run together. The mob pursues them trying to kill the duo who suddenly have a save the environment cause that is if they can solve a murder and a mob-legislative connection in a third world environs (the Caribbean including Florida).

OYSTER BLUES is a wild wacky amusing Florida thriller that starts at a high knot rate and picks up speed until the final docking. The story line is out of control so that fans receive a hilarious novel though at times the jocular sidebars take away from the center. Readers will appreciate the lead couple, a pair of losers as individuals who prove that two minuses in deed make a positive as together they are charming misfits who lead politicians, mobsters, and the audience on a frantic fun frolic.

Harriet Klausner