Wet Feet: Sex, Life and Murder in the Caribbean [Paperback]

BD Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 28, 2008

Living the Dream of Island Life

Experience the real world of Caribbean living! Meet Jack Donnelly, a retired NYC detective. Sadly single, Donnelly moves to the island of St.Martin and finds solace and personal peace in the natural beauty, friendly people, and relaxed lifestyle.

The discovery of a man’s body on an isolated beach starts in motion an investigation that propels Jack into a world of greed, anger, and suspicion as likely suspects surface.

Put on your favorite flowered shirt or sun dress and follow the exploits and romps of lusty tourists, new friends, unlikely lovers and dangerous smugglers.

www.WetFeetTheNovel.com

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

B.D. Anderson is a pen name for Bill and Debra Anderson, an American couple who decided to set aside over 20 years of successful management careers in the United States, and to experience the dream of vacation living by moving to the Caribbean Island of St. Martin in 2001. When they left friends, family and the familiar surroundings of the United States, they were naive and unprepared. Only Debra had ever lived in a foreign country and just briefly on an American Army base. The day to day joys and challenges as expatriates amazed them as new opportunities surfaced. During their years on the island, they enjoyed being residents on the French side and later on the Dutch side of the 37 square miles. The island beaches, shopping, restaurants, and road sites described in the book are real. Only the characters and events are works of fiction.

Both Debra and Bill also find time for live aboard boat cruising, and by sea they have explored many of the American and British Virgin Islands. More conventionally, they have traveled by plane throughout other Caribbean islands including Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Aruba, Curacao and Trinidad. Currently they reside in Nassau in the Bahamas. Their Caribbean adventure continues.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (January 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595486088
• ISBN-13: 978-0595486083
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #547,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wet Feet, Soggy Ground, October 17, 2009

By 

dennis wentraub (schenectady, new york USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wet Feet: Sex, Life and Murder in the Caribbean (Paperback)

This is an enjoyable beach read - all the more if you know the Caribbean island of St. Maarten/St.Martin where the story unfolds. To be sure, the premise is ripe for development. Retired NYC detective Jack Donnelly has lost his wife prematurely to cancer. He has returned to this Dutch/French island paradise they once visited. He occasionally offers his expertise to a local Dutch-side investigator even as he skirts the island's laws as an undocumented resident. Stray cats always seem to find Jack sensing he is a lost soul. The Island is a pretty postcard, but paradise has its serpents. That's the convention and the reality. A nasty creep is murdered. No surprise that multiple suspects surface. Among the suspects are Jack's friends Andy and Dana.

So far so good. But Jack seems to exist mostly to explain that island bureaucracy and protectionist immigration policy thwart economic progress. And for a guy who is (presumably) reflecting on the loss of his wife, he seems to have no shortage of casual hook-ups. OK, but if we meet Jack Donnelly again, which would be nice, let's hope for a little more investigative insight, NYC street smarts, and more interaction with the French side of this unique island. Maybe Jack will have something to say to or about the Gendarmes or find himself a 'French side' girlfriend to help bridge the cultural differences. Jack's character seems a bit lost attending an off-island conference in Jamaica where he engages in some free-style kink with a female investigator attendee, but there are no insights in his bedside summary to her of the murder back in St. Martin. You almost feel sorry for him. He has been pushed off the island and out of the plot. When we last see Jack he has returned to St. Maarten and we leave him walking across a parking lot! By this time the story has shifted its interest to friends Andy and Dana and they have the final chapters pretty much to themselves.

Perhaps there will be be better use of the natural and cultural environment of the island the next time we are there - the parched dryness of the inland hills, the torrential rains during hurricane season, the constant wind at Orient Bay, the fussy French attention to dining detail in Grand Case, the sparkling night lights of pricey hillside villas, and the various social classes on both the French and Dutch sides of the island. I read WET FEET on a dreary, cold, fall New York day and it held my interest while I imagined myself back on this wonderful island. I look forward to the next mystery and promise to be reading it in St. Martin.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wet Feet by BD Anderson, August 9, 2009

By 

Douglas N. Hodges "Rev. On The Beach" (Woodbridge, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wet Feet: Sex, Life and Murder in the Caribbean (Paperback)

I read "Wet Feet" just after a week in St. Martin. A great "post beach" read. The subtitle, "Sex, Life and Murder in the Caribbean" says it all. There is sex.

There is "Life in the Caribbean." This is perhaps where the book shines as it takes you around the Island from Grand Case to Guana Beach (a beach I had never heard of, but it is real.) It gets you involved in the life of the expats who some who manage to live there and want to stay. It also hits on the immigration issue from the unusual perspective of light skinned Americans who want to stay in a tropical paradise, in spite of their immigration status (some are illegal).

And, there is murder. But this is not your typical bad guy murders good guy and detective solves the mystery. To say more here would reveal too much. Go read and see for yourself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars fun read, July 5, 2008

By 

Traveling Texan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wet Feet: Sex, Life and Murder in the Caribbean (Paperback)

This is a quick beach read especially if you are in St Marteen. It is fun to identify with the surroundings, and it is easy to get involved with the people in the book, I would recommend it.