Customer Reviews

Deadly Shoals (Wiki Coffin Mysteries 4)

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Wiki Coffin is a versatile crewmember of one of the ships belonging to an American scientific expedition that set sail from Norfolk, Virginia. The little fleet that had the Pacific as its goal, moved down along the eastern coast of South America first (no Panama Canal yet). DEADLY SHOALS, the fourth "seafaring mystery" in Joan Druett's Wiki Coffin series, traces the course actually sailed by the U.S. Exploring Expedition ("Ex Ex" for short), 1838-1842, commanded by Naval Lt. Charles Wilkes. However, Wilkes' real fleet sailed with six ships. Druett adds a seventh, the fictional Swallow, a brig on which Wiki (also fictional) is normally berthed.

The real six-ship expedition left Virginia with 346 men, and before it ended 28 men died and two ships were lost. There were numerous legal travails including courts martial and the death of one sailor in the Fiji islands that lead to massive reprisal against the natives. Lt. Wilkes became an increasingly overbearing, petty, arrogant tyrant, making the lives of the ships' crews a torment. Druett has chosen her source material wisely; she can mine tons more from documented history for future volumes.

In the opening chapter of DEADLY SHOALS, Swallow lies off the coast of Patagonia, "with the shoal-ridden estuary of the Rio Negro on the western horizon," temporarily detached from the rest of the expeditionary squadron. Abruptly a strange ship, New England whaler Trojan, comes alongside her and in short order Wiki, whose many talents include speaking a number of languages and being a deputized lawman, is ordered to accompany Captain Stackpole, master of said whaleship, to the mainland to find and apprehend a thief. In the course of his investigations, Wiki undertakes a journey upriver to massive salt dunes, rides poncho-clad with gauchos, and gets caught in a refugee stream panicking over a French invasion. He also discovers two dead (murdered!) men, and a lot of questions, but no filched thousand dollars and schooner. A very interconnected and deceptive plot builds from there....

DEADLY SHOALS offers, an unusual character as the "detective/hero." Talented, nimble William "Wiki" Coffin is an illegitimate half-Maori son of an American sea captain -- a father into whom Wiki runs quite a bit during this voyage. Readers pick up tidbits about Maori culture and language from New Zealander Druett.

The sections of DEADLY SHOALS set at sea outshine those on land. At times, the plot slogs along while Wiki treks about with Stackpole. Publishers Weekly said about an earlier book in this series that Druett succumbed to pedantry on occasion. The same might be said of DEADLY SHOALS. The plot, it might also be said, is so tightly and cleverly plotted that it tests believability. But by and large, the author succeeds in telling a story that winningly entertains, sustains suspense, and goads curiosity about the real expedition. I'm looking forward to the next Wiki Coffin entry.

Wiki Coffin is the linguist and captain's clerk on a US exploring expedition which has reached the Rio Negro. The Rio Negro, in 1839, is a remote area of Patagonia famous for rough gauchos and revolutionaries.

Wiki has another role, though, as a sheriff's deputy and it is via this role that much of the action in this novel unfolds. A whaleman in search of his stolen schooner sparks a search which leads to the discovery of murder. Solving the murder(s) (and finding the missing schooner) leads Wiki on a number of adventures involving an assortment of scoundrels. Along the way, the reader acquires all manner of important nautical information and factoids, including the role of [...] in Polynesian navigation.

This is the fourth of Ms Druett's novels to feature the inimitable Wiki Coffin. I've not yet read the other three, but I will certainly be looking out for them. Wiki himself is a thoroughly likeable character and is a superb protagonist in this particular setting. Ms Druett herself is a well-known nautical writer and historian, and a number of her books (both fiction and non-fiction) are on my reading list.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This is an excellent book in an excellent series. The idea of using a half Maori/half Yankee against the backdrop of the US South Seas Exploring Expedition is original and clever, well done indeed. Any fan of nautical fiction will like this series, the attention to details of life at sea is well researched and written

In 1839 U.S. Exploring Expedition ship Swallow reaches Patagonia. However, in Patagonia, an outraged whaler Captain Stackpole demands the Shallow's sheriff's representative, navigator and "linguister" Wiki Coffin arrest trader Caleb Adams. Stackpole claims he bought a schooner from Adams, but the scoundrel vanished with his money without handing over the vessel or a bill of sale.

Wiki makes inquiries into where Adams may have gone. However, when he catches up to the trader, he meets a dead man. Someone murdered Adams and a clerk working at the trader's store. The bill of sale remains missing. As Wiki continues his expanded investigation into what happened to the receipt and who killed Adams and the clerk, he remains ignorant to the fact that the killer is observing his every move in case he gets too close to the truth.

This is a terrific nineteenth century mystery that brings to life Patagonia through the various people the half Maori hero meets on his navigating work but especially his investigation. Wiki in his fourth appearance remains a strong fascinating protagonist who is amazed to learn how diverse the world is. Although the historical aspects at times supersede the whodunit forcing an abrupt climax, fans will enjoy sailing with Wiki as he RUNS AFOUL of his employer, Gauchos, and Indians.

Harriet Klausner