The Mayflower Murder - Hardcover

Kemprecos, Paul

4.34

215 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312148526 ISBN 13: 9780312148522

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 1996

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When a workman is killed at a replica of a Pilgrim village, Native American activist Joe Quint becomes the prime suspect, and fisherman-diver-detective Aristotle "Soc" Socarides investigates

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About the Author:

My fiction-writing career owes it start to the bad navigation of an 18th century pirate. For it was in 1717 that a ship, the Whydah went aground, reportedly carrying a treasure. In the 1980s, three salvage groups went head-to-head, competing to find the wreck. The controversy over the salvage got hot at times and I thought there might be a book in their story. I developed my own detective, an ex-cop, diver, fisherman, and PI named Aristotle “Soc” Socarides. He was more philosophical than hard-boiled. Making his first appearance in “Cool Blue Tomb,” the book won the Shamus award for Best Paperback novel. After many years in the newspaper business, I turned to writing fiction and churned out five more books in the series. Clive Cussler blurbed: “There can be no better mystery writer in America than Paul Kemprecos.” Despite the accolades, the Soc series lingered in mid-list hell. By the time I finished my last book, I was thinking about another career that might make me more money, like working in a 7-11. Several months after the release of “Bluefin Blues,” Clive called and said a spin-off from the Dirk Pitt series was in the works. It would be called the NUMA Files and he wondered if I would be interested in tackling the job. I took on the writing of “Serpent” which brought into being Kurt Austin and the NUMA Special Assignments Team. Austin had some carry-over from Soc, and another team member, Paul Trout, had been born on Cape Cod. The book made The New York Times bestseller list, as did every one of seven NUMA Files that followed, including “Polar Shift,” which bumped “The DaVinci Code” for first place. After eight NUMA Files I went back to writing solo. I wrote an adventure book entitled, The Emerald Scepter, which introduced a new hero, Matinicus “Matt” Hawkins. I have been working on the re-release of my Soc series in digital and print, and in 2013, responding to numerous requests, I brought Soc back again in a ninth Socarides book entitled, Grey Lady. Christi and I live on Cape Cod where she works as a financial advisor. We live in a circa 1865 farmhouse with two cats. We have three children and seven granddaughters. To learn more about Paul Kemprecos, check out his website at http://www.paulkemprecos.com/.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A fifth adventure featuring Aristotle ``Soc'' Socarides, Cape Cod p.i., fisherman, diver, and general knockabout (Feeding Frenzy, 1993, etc.), is that common entertainment-fiction combination of the lethal and fairly harmless. Here, Soc is tapped by an old Vietnam buddy to come to the aid of Native American activist Joe Quint, a charismatic rouser of rabble who's possibly been framed for the murder of a tourist theme-village night watchman. Quint so much doesn't want to talk to Soc that he breaks jail and goes into deep hiding. But evidence found during an underwater archaeological expedition, visits by friendly and hostile Indians, and the desire to protect pretty women, among them Quint's idealistic lover Patty, pull Soc into conflict with corrupt gambling interests. Hyperbolic Quint had once advocated the pulverization of Plymouth Rock; let's just say that, in bomb-happy America, he should have been careful what he wished for. Kemprecos can be an appealing enough writer (``Peter was a likeable guy. It was going to be tough pushing the down button on his elevator''), but without the beach-bum existentialism of John D. MacDonald and the bankable funniness of Robert B. Parker, Soc seems merely (and inconsistently) a third-string substitute. Many readers, of course, will find that enough. -- Copyright �1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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