Customer Reviews

Green Water Ghost (A Luanne Fogarty Mystery)

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It's a rare day off for both Luanne Fogarty and her beau Vernon. They are relaxing by taking a walking tour in their area of Florida. While the guide goes on about the extinct volcano just under the swamp, the college kids also on the tour are more interested in the slave graveyard. When they head off to explore, one of them falls in a hole and gets injured. When Vernon goes to help her, he finds new bones mixed in with the old.

Since the graveyard had long since been abandoned, Luanne and Vernon know that something isn't right. Since they are both on the scene, they become involved in the case, even diving into a nearby pond looking for more bones. Luanne's find of three skull caps only furthers the mystery. Who do these bones belong to? And how did they come to be scattered all over the old graveyard?

This series has long been a favorite for its vivid descriptions, and this book is no exception. The story is set around Halloween, and I felt the crisp fall air. The pace of the story matches the setting. We are constantly getting new clues, but the story still feels nice and relaxed. I was always engaged, and the ending was a surprise. Luanne's day job of professor of linguistics is more prominently featured then normal and adds to her character. The other characters, both new and old, are interesting as well.

If you want an entertaining mystery and a glimpse of life in the swamps of northern Florida, this is the series for you.

The Bones Tell Their Story

A walking tour to visit long hidden slave graves and hear local legends yields a grisly discovery in Glynn Marsh Alam's sixth Luanne Fogarty mystery. The season is Halloween and a chill has descended on the swamps of north Florida that we have visited in Alam's previous books.

Luanne, an adjunct diver for the Sheriff's Department, is called on to explore what could be a modern killing ground in the midst of an older sad setting - a slave graveyard. Ultimately, newer bones found amongst the old tell their story, after a very enjoyable return to Alam's world.

Alam again has created such a real setting and characters that the reader is swept into life in swamp country, the myths and lore that have grown to explain phenomena, and the characters that inhabit this world. She is especially talented at getting the reader into the mind of Luanne, a strong competent character, yet with personal and work concerns that ground her in reality. Luanne's job as a linguistics professor at the university is well imagined, as is her relationship with her gentleman friend Vernon, and her work with the Sheriff's Department.

Smaller details are deftly drawn. Edwin, a recurring character, lives in the backcountry and hunts snakes, and is tuned into the ways of the swamps and the ghosts that may lurk there. An alligator that has learned to associate humans with food and wait under a footbridge is another nice touch. Combined with a backwoods preacher with a past, a lovely yet possibly sinister historic preservationist, university students who may harbor secrets, a funeral home, and other interesting aspects, this is a story that I really enjoyed and a setting and characters that I look forward to continuing to read about.

How many of us think to tour our own backyard? Luanne Fogarty and lover Vernon Drake travel to the next county to take a walking tour of a historic area with a "supposed dead volcano" in the Florida swamps. What they discover are exposed bones in a sinkhole that are not part of a previous slave burial and a young woman who wanders into a newly excavated pit.
GREEN WATER BONES by Glynn Marsh Alam will keep you turning to pages with its very logical twists & turns compounded by the unexpected. Ms. Alam, who we had the pleasure of meeting several years ago, provides both an ecological understanding of a little known area of Florida and a great mystery story.
Nash Black, author whose books are available as Kindle editions.
Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps

This was a very light read. Not much character development - kind of on par with a Harlequin Romance, only not quite that bad.Nothing to think about with this one - not too hard to figure out who done it from the very beginning!!!

Oh what a great series by Glynn Marsh Alam. I have read every one and cant wait for the new one to come out. As i live in north Florida and have been in law enforcement I can appreciate every page and the location of the mysteries.
Mrs Alam brings life to each of the characters and their surroundings. When reading this book the reader can picture in their minds eye the gators slinking along the side of the river, or they can hear the night critters as the sun goes down and night approaches...Great series!!!!!!!

Another chance to spend time in the north Florida woods with my favorite "characters." Can't wait for the next book!!!!