Hawk Channel Chase [Hardcover]

Tom Corcoran (Author, Editor, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2009

Fans of Tom Corcoran's Alex Rutledge mysteries will cheer this compelling sixth addition to the series, the first in three years. It s mid-October in tropical Key West, a break between the summer and winter tourist seasons. Alex Rutledge, home two days from an advertising job in the Bahamas, is asked to investigate a young woman s disappearance. With few skills as a private eye and no desire to learn the trade, his decision to decline is easy. Until a close friend asks that he reconsider. A freelance photographer who loves beach scenery and easy schedules and dreads his occasional law enforcement evidence work, Rutledge must confront the private investigator job with little but instinct to guide himself. Alex digs in only to regret every step, every fact that comes his way on the ocean and in the streets of Key West. To confuse matters, on his first day of the P. I. grind, a man is found dead in a neighboring home. At first considered a suspect, Alex later is asked to take crime scene photos with no body in place. Meanwhile a Lower Keys crime scene is closed to media and local police, open only to secretive federal agents. The questions and perils multiply. And there is still that young woman who never came home... Michael Connelly, author of The Lincoln Lawyer and The Brass Verdict, said of Corcoran's previous novel, Air Dance Iguana was the reading highlight of the year for me. With characters as strong and intriguing as the story they move through, I went cover to cover without coming up for air. Randy Wayne White, author of Black Widow and Dead Silence, said, I finished Air Dance Iguana as the last of a Category Four hurricane pounded away at my house. This book has been storm-tested and approved impossible to put down in winds under seventy knots. Tom Corcoran and Alex Rutledge are Florida treasures. Tom Corcoran has put his time on the water to great use. He reconnects my heart and brain to the Key West I knew. -Jimmy Buffett, author of A Pirate Looks at Fifty and Swine Not? Tom Corcoran knows the human heart, sure as hell knows how to write a good book, and knows Key West-a setting so real you'll get a sunburn. -Steve Hamilton, author of The Hunting Wind

Editorial Reviews

Review

Captures the soul of Key West, all its eccentricities and secrets... --South Florida Sun Sentinel

Corcoran is a superb writer. --St. Petersburg Times

Alex Rutledge should be investigating Key West for years. --Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

About the Author

Tom Corcoran is the author of The Alex Rutledge Series: The Mango Opera, Gumbo Limbo, Bone Island Mambo, Octopus Alibi and Air Dance Iguana. His stories were included in the anthologies Miami Noir and A Merry Band of Murderers. Tom has been a disc jockey, magazine editor, and screenwriter. His photographs have appeared on seven Jimmy Buffett album covers and are featured in his book Key West in Black and White. He cowrote the Buffett hits Cuban Crime of Passion and Fins and is currently collaborating with singer and songwriter John Frinzi. Corcoran splits his time between central Florida and the Florida Keys.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Ketch & Yawl Press; First Edition edition (March 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978894979
• ISBN-13: 978-0978894979
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #796,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alex Rutledge to the rescue., April 21, 2009

By 

key west "westkey" (key west, fl USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hawk Channel Chase (Hardcover)

Having hung out with Jimmy Buffett and Hunter S. Thompson on the island in the 70's & 80's, Tom knows Cayo Hueso (Key West) like the back of his hand. In turn, Alex Rutledge knows were to find Pecan Lane, Five Brothers (for a Buchi) and where the bowling alley and the Fourth of July Cuban Restaurant use to be.

Tom writes a very good murder mystery too. That is when he is not publishing books of his black & white photos and co writing music. I most like that Tom hasn't lost the funk and grittiness of Key West past. When shrimping and the 'square grouper' were plentiful.

Do yourself a favor and pick up one of Tom's books and drift back in time.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tom does it again, May 14, 2009

By 

Tommy Lewis (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hawk Channel Chase (Hardcover)

Awesome book as always. I just wish Alex Rutledge would come out more than once a year!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars keywest69, May 22, 2009

By 

Dennis McDannald "keywest69" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hawk Channel Chase (Hardcover)

I love Key West and Mr. Corcoran absolutely does the island justice.
All the nooks and crannys are exposed as Alex figures another mystery out.
Hawk Channel Chase is as good as it gets. Breezy adventure done as well as the other Rutledge entries. Thank goodness for Tom Corcoran and Randy Wayne White keeping me knee deep in Florida mystery since the passing of John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee.