Customer Reviews

Snipe Hunt (Professor Simon Shaw Mysteries)

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Professor Simon Show is the youngest teacher with tenure at prestigious Keenan College, North Carolina. The Pulitzer Prize-winning history professor has become a media darling dubbed the "Forensic Historian" after solving a decades old mystery. A few months of fame has Simon needing a vacation. So by Thanksgiving he escapes to Pearlie Beach, a Carolina Barrier Island, to relax with his friends.

A decades old body in a diving suit is found encrusted with brine and barnacles beneath the nearby waters. Someone stabbed to death the deceased, identified as an AWOL soldier Carl Chais. The victim was found holding a valuable cache of Confederate gold coins that leads to the conclusion that an undiscovered chest containing more must be nearby. Simon finds the case interesting and begins to investigate with the permission of the victim's family. He will soon learn that curiosity endangers more than just the cat, as someone wants certain secrets to remain buried.

The protagonist of SNIPE HUNT is a redeeming individual with a heroic streak that compels him to do the right thing in spite of his own misgivings. Sarah Shaber surrounds this admirable character with strong writing highlighted by a perfectly paced story line. The captivating mystery with its introspective academic star leads to a fresh amateur sleuth tale that will make the author a sub-genre favorite.

Harriet Klausner

SNIPE HUNT is the second book in the Professor Simon Shawmystery series, the first being SIMON SAID. Professor Shaw is knownfor solving mysteries of the past.

Professor Simon Shaw teaches history at Kenan College in Raleigh, North Carolina. In this mystery, he travels to Pearlie Beach, North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving vacation with his friends, David Morgan, an Archeologist, Marcus and Marianne Clegg and their three younger children, and his former crush Julia McGloughlin, a police attorney. Simon is expecting to spend Thanksgiving vacation working and preparing for the finals week that's ahead, but is talked into solving another mystery of the past. Simon, Morgan, and Julia try to find the missing links between a diver's suit that is dredged from the water, a cousin of the Pearlie family that went missing in 1942, a dark family secret, and confederate gold.

I found the plot in SNIPE HUNT to be very educational. The twists and turns were like a complex puzzle that was mind-boggling and a challenge I was ready to accept. The characters were so life-like, setting was perfect, and the historical tie-ins of the book helped keep me interested, not to mention the recipes were mouth watering.

I truly enjoyed this mystery written by a fellow North Carolinian. I could relate to alot of the incidents in the book like going crabbing and eating boiled peanuts!

I also saw the author and heard her read at Quail Ridge Books; it was wonderful. I do thoroughly recommend you read her other book, "Simon Says" prior to reading "Snipe Hunt". "Simon Says" sets the stage for Simon as the sleuth.

I truly enjoyed this mystery because I did not figure it out before the end!

Sarah Shaber has created a very likable hero in Simon Shaw. Warm, funny and intelligent, Simon is a wonderful reluctant hero. Simon's sidekick and love interest Julia is also a well-drawn character. The pair interacts very well together and both seem to find their share to trouble. Ms. Shaber works these personalities together with a fun and interesting plot. It this story, the author is much improved over her first installment "Simon Said". Not that I didn't enjoy her first book, it was very enjoyable and recommended, I read the second one didn't I? Ms. Shaber does a very good job in "Snipe Hunt" of weaving the past with the present to tell a tale of mystery. She has also done her homework on events and rumors of the coastal states during World War II and the Civil War. I just love history in my mysteries. The author also does a very nice job of developing the supporting characters in this story. I hope to see more of David and the Clegg family. She does a great job with the children, making them believable, interesting and lovable. These two books are a great beginning to a good series, I recommend "Snipe Hunt" and "Simon Said" to any reader who enjoys a fun read.

There are still a few adjustments Amazon can make to its robot's delivery (male-have not heard female) without any expense: one is most obvious, simply program all titles to be read as such, that is, now 'Mr,' comes out 'M' 'R' rather than Mister. Don't know how they can do anything to prevent differential pronunciations of same spelling, now wound comes out wownd when context calls for woond. These things one gets accustomed to;I find the reading satisfactory, though not up to the fine voice-actors one usually gets on an audiobook--for a great deal more money.
This novel precedes some of the others I have read, so I will avoid details which become central in the later ones. Here the bright, nice guy, Professor Shaw, is vacationing with his archaeologist buddy, staying at the shore with one of his teaching colleagues and his family, A body of a man missing for 50 years is found under water in a diving suit...with confederate gold coins in his pocket worth tens of thousands of dollars. Where did they come from? Are there more? Why did he die? These are some of the questions which keep the intensely snoopy Professor keyed up. With his usual innocence he not only digs out facts some would rather remain hidden but subjects himself and those around him to risks they might otherwise have avoided.
Plot is good. Lead characters appealing. Writing sound. Despite some perplexing behavior by Our Hero (who never sees danger when his nose for finding out other people's business is twitching), this is good, light reading. Those following the series will surely want to read it, others should find it entertaining if not quite first rate.

I have just finished reading Sarah Shaber's Snipe Hunt. This is the kind of mystery I love. A fifty-year-old murder, realistic down-to-earth characters, romance, lost gold--Snipe Hunt has it all. Sarah delivers an entertaining, engaging mystery with characters you learn to love or hate. I liked this one so well that I stayed up after a New Year's party to finish reading it!