Aaron Stander's sheriff-protagonist, Ray Elkins, just keeps getting more and more interesting - or "curiouser and curiouser". I learned a lot more about him in this second book in a series of three (so far) mystery-thrillers. I think the stress should be on the mystery part though. The pace remains sure and even, and maybe even a bit of a plod in COLOR TOUR. Elkins and his evidence collection specialist, Deputy Sue Lawrence, go methodically about their business, painstakingly collecting clues, looking for motives and questioning possible suspects in this grisly double murder set once again on the shore of Lake Michigan. This time the murder investigation involves the staff and students of a posh private prep school. That plod picks up to a trot and eventually even a gallop in the final fifty pages or so (as Elkins begins to take the case much more personally and becomes a target himself), before settling back into a brisk walk as Elkins and Lawrence attempt to tie up all the leftover loose ends of what had become a complex and even messy case.
The truth is I love the characters here more than I do the mystery. Maybe it's just me, but Ray Elkins seems something of a mystery himself. The tantalizing bits and pieces about his background which Stander continues to sprinkle in here and there make the man seem almost more than the sum of his parts. Because he's simply a fascinating guy. Let's see now - a northern Michigan boy who grew up poor, Ray went to college at U of M in Ann Arbor, then did a hitch in the army during the Vietnam era, but in Germany as a military policeman (maybe the beginning of his interest in law enforcement?), after which he returned to grad school at Michigan. I'm not sure if it's ever noted what his field was, but he did teach at college level for an unspecified time before moving back north to become a full-time lawman. And he certainly has risen above his humble origins. His interests and tastes are lofty - nearly aristocratic - and eclectic. Once again, let's see - he reads English literature (Boswell's Johnson and Joyce's Ulysses) as well as fiction and poetry from his own geographic area and generation, represented by Jim Harrison and Judith Minty, and was there a Jack Driscoll book in there? I mean all he needs here are Anne-Marie Oomen and and Doug Stanton (and maybe Aaron Stander) and he'd have the whole Traverse City - Interlochen writers scene pretty well covered. Elkins knows painting, sculpture and architecture, as well as how to build and paddle a kayak.
He's also something of a gourmand (or is that gourmet? I'll look it up later). I mean he's the sort of guy who examines the quality of mold in the rind of exotic cheeses before purchase. He speaks appreciatively of a good "tawny port" and other fine wines, and swirls his snifter and sniffs the bouquet before sipping. He recognizes a good "single-malt Scotch," although he rarely indulges, since he never knows when he'll be called back to his police duties. When his much younger deputy sidekick has a bacon cheeseburger and fries for dinner, she brings him "Portobello mushrooms with goat cheese and roasted red peppers on a freshly baked sourdough roll ... [with tea] chamomile with honey, lemon and some chopped ginger ... how you like it." I mean, my God! Imagine Sheriff Andy Taylor or Deputy Fife ordering something like that! (Just kidding, Aaron.)
While I would certainly never aspire to such lordly tastes (I kinda LIKE tuna casserole) or ever hope to know as much as Stander's professorial sheriff, I not only admire him, I LIKE him. I know he could teach me plenty. No question, Sheriff Ray Elkins not only gets the job done, he educates you in the process. I look forward to that next book, DEER SEASON. Stay tuned. - Tim Bazzett, author of SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
