- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Minotaur Books,US; 1st St. Martin's Minotaur Ed edition (17 Oct 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312334567
- ISBN-13: 978-0312334567
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,380,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Wiki Coffin, linguist aboard the U.S. Exploring Expedition, the famous voyage meant to put America at the forefront of 19th-century scientific discovery, brings many skills to his job. Whether he's translating native languages, assisting his good friend Captain George Rochester as unofficial first mate, or upholding the rule of law as deputy to the sheriff of the port of Virginia, Wiki is never far from the action aboard the seven ships that make up the expedition. But when they encounter a wrecked sealing ship and its desperate crew on the shoals of remote, uninhabited Shark Island, Wiki has little idea just how many of his skills are about to be put to the test. As soon as they board the wreck, a dead body turns up with a dagger firmly inserted between its shoulder blades. And it's not just any dead body: the victim of the brutal murder is none other than the enigmatic captain of the doomed voyage. What's more, Wiki's colleague and nemesis Lieutenant Forsythe is suspected of the crime. Knowing full well that Forsythe is capable of such violence, Wiki nonetheless believes him innocent and is duty-bound to prove it for the good of the expedition. Was the murder a case of mutinous sealers taking the law into their own hands? Did the secrets of several mysterious long-ago voyages finally come back to haunt a dishonest and dishonourable captain? Or is Shark Island home to something more sinister than a few lonely goats? Something isn't quite right about the crew of the wrecked ship, and Wiki will stop at nothing to find out just what it is that they're hiding, and, in the process, unmask a vicious killer.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
In this series of maritime fiction Ms Druett ingeniously created a seaborne 'Sherlock Holmes' in the guise of a mixed race American-Polynesian. In this second volume of the series Wiki Coffin finds himself unwittingly having to solve a killing, while on board one of the ships of the troubled US South Seas Exploring Expedition of 1838-42. The US Ex-Ex under the command of the technically competent but flawed Charles Wilkes was a real one, and its history has been written up in books such as Philbrick's "Sea of Glory". Druett uses the Ex-Ex as a framework for a very good fictional thriller-mystery. The plot is suitably complicated, with a variety of characters and red herrings. Although real people such as Wilkes are barely mentioned, the fictional characters come alive well, with complex personalities such as the sometimes brutal Lt Forsythe emerging as one of the 'good guys'. It is a pleasure to read a book, set in the world of the sailing ship, that is so accurate and free from common errors. This is to be expected, when Ms Druett has become such an acknowledged expert in the world of factual writings about the age of sail, with studies of the real lives of men and women aboard square riggers and whalers: "Hen Frigates", "Rough Medicine", "In the Wake of Madness" and "Island of the Lost", to name just a few of her non-fiction works. Her return to well written fiction is to be welcomed.
Format:Hardcover
This is the second historical fiction book that follows the US Exploring Expedition during the 1800's though the fictional character of Wiki Coffin. Part New Zealander, part American, he's aboard the navy ships as linguist. And he solves a murder or two along the way.
There are rumors of pirates in the waters ahead, so the "Swallow" is sent ahead to find out the truth. What Wiki and the rest find instead is a ship that hit a reef and is slowly taking on water off the coast of an abandoned island. The crew has hardly made contact before Captain Ezekiel Reed is murdered. Captain Reed was a friend of Wiki's father, so he takes a personal interest in the case.
The problem comes when Lieutenant Forsythe becomes the leading suspect. Forsythe and Wiki don't get along at all, but he can't believe that his enemy committed this particular crime. Can he find out who really committed the crime while figuring out a way to repair the boat so they don't have to take a murderer on board?
I was quite glad to get back in Wiki's company. My love of all things nautical really made this book interesting for me. It starts right after the first book in the series ended, but enough background is given to bring new comers (or those who read the first book a while ago) up to speed. Once again, the characters are real and interesting.
Also like the first book, the pacing of the plot is a little off. We still get a little too much about ships during the time, although it wasn't the data dump it was in earlier books. Still, at times the sub-plot of repairing the ship did slow things down. Additionally, Forsythe has a vile mouth. I got tired of reading swear words every time he spoke. The rest of the characters aren't nearly that foul.
Still, I did enjoy this book. I will definitely be back for another adventure with Wiki and company.
There are rumors of pirates in the waters ahead, so the "Swallow" is sent ahead to find out the truth. What Wiki and the rest find instead is a ship that hit a reef and is slowly taking on water off the coast of an abandoned island. The crew has hardly made contact before Captain Ezekiel Reed is murdered. Captain Reed was a friend of Wiki's father, so he takes a personal interest in the case.
The problem comes when Lieutenant Forsythe becomes the leading suspect. Forsythe and Wiki don't get along at all, but he can't believe that his enemy committed this particular crime. Can he find out who really committed the crime while figuring out a way to repair the boat so they don't have to take a murderer on board?
I was quite glad to get back in Wiki's company. My love of all things nautical really made this book interesting for me. It starts right after the first book in the series ended, but enough background is given to bring new comers (or those who read the first book a while ago) up to speed. Once again, the characters are real and interesting.
Also like the first book, the pacing of the plot is a little off. We still get a little too much about ships during the time, although it wasn't the data dump it was in earlier books. Still, at times the sub-plot of repairing the ship did slow things down. Additionally, Forsythe has a vile mouth. I got tired of reading swear words every time he spoke. The rest of the characters aren't nearly that foul.
Still, I did enjoy this book. I will definitely be back for another adventure with Wiki and company.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
excellent historical mystery
28 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
In 1838 Wiki Coffin enjoys his work as the linguist with the U.S. Exploring Expedition though he knows that long stretches along the Atlantic are boring and seemingly endless. Besides being the official translator to the seven vessel research project, he also does anything else his friend former Vincennes Captain George Rochester needs doing to keep the exploration running smooth. However, since Commander Wilkes demoted George to the rank of midshipman, Wiki is considering returning home.
Wilkes dispatches the Swallow headed by Lieutenant Forsythe with Wiki aboard to take a look at allegedly uninhabited Ilha Tubarao which is Portuguese for Shark Island. The crew finds the distressed sealer Annawan taking in water after hitting the reef near the island. Wilkes wonders if these sailors claiming to be out of Connecticut are pirates as there are no seals in the equatorial zone. Not long after the naval crew of the Swallow and Wiki board the damaged ship, the murdered corpse of Annawan's Captain Reed is found with the evidence clearly pointing towards Lieutenant Forsythe as the culprit. Though he detests Forsythe and knows first hand how violent and abusive the lieutenant is, Wiki believes he did not commit the homicide and sets out to prove who did.
SHARK ISLAND, the sequel to fabulous WATERY GRAVE, is an excellent historical mystery that uses as the setting of the real U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838. The who-done-it is cleverly devised so that the audience like most of the sailors leans heavily towards Forsythe as the killer. The hero courageously investigates in spite of loathing the prime culprit. However, although the homiceide case is fun to follow, the seafaring scientific expedition makes this must reading for historical fans.
Harriet Klausner
Wilkes dispatches the Swallow headed by Lieutenant Forsythe with Wiki aboard to take a look at allegedly uninhabited Ilha Tubarao which is Portuguese for Shark Island. The crew finds the distressed sealer Annawan taking in water after hitting the reef near the island. Wilkes wonders if these sailors claiming to be out of Connecticut are pirates as there are no seals in the equatorial zone. Not long after the naval crew of the Swallow and Wiki board the damaged ship, the murdered corpse of Annawan's Captain Reed is found with the evidence clearly pointing towards Lieutenant Forsythe as the culprit. Though he detests Forsythe and knows first hand how violent and abusive the lieutenant is, Wiki believes he did not commit the homicide and sets out to prove who did.
SHARK ISLAND, the sequel to fabulous WATERY GRAVE, is an excellent historical mystery that uses as the setting of the real U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838. The who-done-it is cleverly devised so that the audience like most of the sailors leans heavily towards Forsythe as the killer. The hero courageously investigates in spite of loathing the prime culprit. However, although the homiceide case is fun to follow, the seafaring scientific expedition makes this must reading for historical fans.
Harriet Klausner
A wonderfully detailed historical mystery
25 July 2010
First Line: The hours were dragging.
It could be that I love well-written books about the sea because there are so many sailors in the family. (I even married an ex-submariner.) New Zealand author Joan Druett has long been one of my favorites for maritime history. When I discovered that she'd begun writing an historical mystery series based on the travels of the United States South Seas Exploring Expedition of 1838 to 1842, I was thrilled. What a perfect movable feast of a setting for a mystery series! If you're one of the many who've never heard of this American expedition, here's a few words about it from Joan Druett herself:
"...huge tracts of the ocean had been charted, plus 800 miles of scarcely known Oregon shore and 1,500 miles of entirely unknown Antarctic coast. The Stars and Stripes had fluttered off the lagoons of well over 200 tropical islands, and more than 4,000 artifacts and 2,000 scientific specimens had been collected, an enormously rich fund that became the foundation of the collection of the new Smithsonian Institution."
As you can see from that small description alone, this is an incredibly rich fishing ground for a mystery series. The detective of the series is half-Maori, half-white Wiki Coffin. Due to his skill in linguistics, he's been hired by the expedition as an interpreter.
In this second book in the series, the ship Wiki is aboard is told to sail to Shark Island off the coast of Brazil to check into an alleged sighting of pirates. When they arrive, they discover a wrecked sealing ship and its crew. They've barely agreed to stay and begin repairs on the ship when its captain is murdered. While the sealing ship is being repaired, Wiki has little choice but to try to find the murderer of the captain... especially since the dead man was the husband of one of Wiki's old flames (who just happens to be on board, too).
I enjoy Druett's writing. She includes so much detail on life aboard ship, on ship repair, on sailing itself, and it's all added so seamlessly into the narrative that I never feel as though I'm reading a gigantic lesson with a quiz to follow at some unspecified date. There is one scene in particular that startled me so badly I almost leapt out of bed (which I thought was a very good thing since I'm so seldom surprised to that degree). The only real quibble I have with the entire book is that the culprit was a bit obvious to me, but it is a very small complaint indeed.
This series is one that I am purposely savoring; reading it very slowly to enjoy the character of Wiki, a wealth of new knowledge, and the settings. If you haven't tried any of Druett's books, I suggest that you do. Non-fiction or historical mystery, you are in for a treat.
It could be that I love well-written books about the sea because there are so many sailors in the family. (I even married an ex-submariner.) New Zealand author Joan Druett has long been one of my favorites for maritime history. When I discovered that she'd begun writing an historical mystery series based on the travels of the United States South Seas Exploring Expedition of 1838 to 1842, I was thrilled. What a perfect movable feast of a setting for a mystery series! If you're one of the many who've never heard of this American expedition, here's a few words about it from Joan Druett herself:
"...huge tracts of the ocean had been charted, plus 800 miles of scarcely known Oregon shore and 1,500 miles of entirely unknown Antarctic coast. The Stars and Stripes had fluttered off the lagoons of well over 200 tropical islands, and more than 4,000 artifacts and 2,000 scientific specimens had been collected, an enormously rich fund that became the foundation of the collection of the new Smithsonian Institution."
As you can see from that small description alone, this is an incredibly rich fishing ground for a mystery series. The detective of the series is half-Maori, half-white Wiki Coffin. Due to his skill in linguistics, he's been hired by the expedition as an interpreter.
In this second book in the series, the ship Wiki is aboard is told to sail to Shark Island off the coast of Brazil to check into an alleged sighting of pirates. When they arrive, they discover a wrecked sealing ship and its crew. They've barely agreed to stay and begin repairs on the ship when its captain is murdered. While the sealing ship is being repaired, Wiki has little choice but to try to find the murderer of the captain... especially since the dead man was the husband of one of Wiki's old flames (who just happens to be on board, too).
I enjoy Druett's writing. She includes so much detail on life aboard ship, on ship repair, on sailing itself, and it's all added so seamlessly into the narrative that I never feel as though I'm reading a gigantic lesson with a quiz to follow at some unspecified date. There is one scene in particular that startled me so badly I almost leapt out of bed (which I thought was a very good thing since I'm so seldom surprised to that degree). The only real quibble I have with the entire book is that the culprit was a bit obvious to me, but it is a very small complaint indeed.
This series is one that I am purposely savoring; reading it very slowly to enjoy the character of Wiki, a wealth of new knowledge, and the settings. If you haven't tried any of Druett's books, I suggest that you do. Non-fiction or historical mystery, you are in for a treat.
Mostly Mystery, Not So Much Nautical
23 Nov 2009
Format:Paperback
My review of the first Wiki book provided some leeway in my interpretation of what this series was supposed to be. After reading this sequel and now into another sequel, I find that the major content is devoted to a who-done-it theme. The maritime adventure hardly exists. For the most part, the ships lay at anchor in an island bay in this story. I found that the obvious suspect is overlooked and when discovered is a let-down.
Additionally, I'm discovering what appears to be a negative bias as to the capability and character of virtually all of the U.S. naval officers. So far, with the exception of Wiki's officer friend, the rest are seemingly portrayed as prejudiced idiots.
But, hey, I'm learning a lot about native Polynesian customs and language!
Additionally, I'm discovering what appears to be a negative bias as to the capability and character of virtually all of the U.S. naval officers. So far, with the exception of Wiki's officer friend, the rest are seemingly portrayed as prejudiced idiots.
But, hey, I'm learning a lot about native Polynesian customs and language!
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