Pieces of Eight (A Spider John Mystery 4)
In this fourth Spider John mystery, set in 1723, “Spider John” Rush, minding his own business as ship’s carpenter, sees a fellow shipmate plunge from the rigging and thud upon the deck. Spider suspects the man was dead before the fall. If he was murdered, Spider may know who’s to blame — but not their motives. Spider’s friends, one-eyed Odin, strapping Hob, and the beautiful Ruth, who can hold her own in a knife fight, assist in foiling a shipboard plot. Spider fights feelings for Ruth, attempting to get back to his wife and son on Nantucket, from whom a life of forced piracy has separated him for eight long years. What he finds at home is not what he expected.
For this adventure/mystery, Goble offers some explanatory backstory, but it’s probably best read after the others in the series. Spider is a flawed hero (he has an unholy temper when in his cups, which is often), but sympathetic, and the subsidiary characters are colorful, if two-dimensional. This nautical mystery falters a bit on land, but it tacks along quickly, and the stage is set for Spider and his intrepid band to head back out to sea in the next offering.
