CM Magazine: White Sand Blues. (An Ashley Grant Mystery). (Rapid Reads).

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 4. . . September 29, 2017

cover
White Sand Blues. (An Ashley Grant Mystery). (Rapid Reads).

Vicki Delany.
Victoria, BC: Orca, October, 2017.
138 pp., (pbk., pdf & epub), $9.95.
ISBN 978-1-4598-1535-3 (pbk.), ISBN 978-1-4598-1536-0 (pdf), ISBN 978-1-4598-1537-7 (epub).

Grades 11 and up / Ages 16 and up.

Review by Tara Stieglitz.

*** /4

Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy.

excerpt:

I’d dressed in my uniform pants from Toronto and a plain T-Shirt. Simon handed me a portable radio and a loose blue golf shirt. The shirt had the logo of the Victoria and Albert Islands on the breast pocket. The back said Paramedic in big white letters.

“Thanks, I…” I got no further. The radio squawked. And the day’s work began.

The ambulance siren whooped and red lights flashed as we pulled out of the parking area.

“This the only ambulance?” I said.

“Yup,” Simon replied.

White Sand Blues, the first novel in a new mystery series by Vicki Delany, introduces readers to Ashley Grant, a paramedic from Toronto who impulsively fled her cheating boyfriend to work in a small Caribbean island nation for a year. The novel begins as Ashley arrives on the island and is immediately informed that they’ve received a call and she’s needed as a paramedic right away. It appears that a man has died in a boating accident at the island’s nicest hotel. Ashley soon learns that the daughter of the dead man is an old school acquaintance from home who suspects her father was murdered by her step-mother. As Ashley begins her new job, she finds herself working overtime as a paramedic while also trying to solve a murder mystery in her off hours.

White Sand Blues is a fast paced and engaging mystery, though the plot is somewhat predictable. The novel is a quick read, sacrificing characterization to focuses on action and advancing the mystery plot. The setting and characters of the novel, while not detailed, provide an interesting background to the mystery plot making for a novel that is fresh and enjoyable to read. This action-packed mystery would make a good choice for teens who read below grade level or anyone else looking for a satisfying but quick mystery to read.

Recommended.

Tara Stieglitz is a librarian at MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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