Liquid Shades of Blue

 By James Polkinghorn

Oceanview     2023

 208 pages     Thriller

Here is a synopsis of the story line from the back of the book. “When hungover ex-lawyer and Key West bar owner Jack Girard groggily wakes up one morning, he’s greeted by a beautiful woman lying next to him and a shrill, ringing telephone. Seeing the call is from his father, Claude “The Duke” Girard, Jack answers. Within seconds, he learns that his mother is dead in an apparent suicide, and Jack hits the road, heading back to his childhood home in Miami to face his tyrannical father.

The death of his mother brings up haunting memories from Jack’s past—memories of his brother Bobby’s suicide when they were in college together. Being back in Miami only continues to dredge up his family’s traumas, but things grow more complicated when The Duke suggests that his estranged wife’s alleged suicide may have been a murder.

As Jack begins to uncover the truth about his mother’s death, including the secret she had revealed to only two people—the same secret Bobby had taken with him to his grave—he finds himself in imminent danger. Can Jack reveal the true story before it’s too late? He has to act quickly, or he fears he may be the victim of the next Girard family tragedy.”

My opinion of the book is both positive and negative. Here are some of the things I appreciated. The setting was terrific—coastal Florida from Key West to Miami. The road between the two areas is described well through several chapters as Jack travels from his apartment in Key West to the family’s homes in Miami. Jack also remembers very well the waters where the family set sail through the good years of their lives together. Hence the title, Liquid Shades of Blue.

Jack is a well-defined and developed character. He had a very hard time adapting to life following the suicide of his brother, Bobby, and now his mother is dead. This has led to estrangement from his father, which is understandable considering that The Duke is very overbearing and to a large extent unlovable. Jack has trouble dealing with his father’s ways, but having been betrayed by his father when he was a young lawyer in the family law firm, he changed careers completely and moved far away. Now he feels compelled to try to solve the mystery of his mother’s death. Something feels very “off” to him and to the reader. Thus the reader understands who he is and the pain he is experiencing.

On the other hand, I felt that the plot was a bit contrived, and a bit clunky. I sort of knew that the mother’s death was not a suicide, and I had glimmers of who the murderer was, but I didn’t expect the ending to be quite so brutal. It was almost like the author didn’t quite know how to end the book, so all of a sudden it was over. Liquid Shades of Blue for sure.

To his credit, Polkinghorn did not spend a great deal of time with his characters in the courtroom, which is a failing of a lot of lawyer/mystery writers. I appreciated that. The other good thing about the book is that it didn’t ramble; Polkinghorn knew where his plot was headed and he purposefully headed that way.

Liquid Shades of Blue will be released next week. Here is Polkinghorn’s website. My copy of the book came from the publicist.