Mike Martin is a Canadian author originally from Newfoundland and now living in Ottawa, Ontario. You can take the man off "The Rock" but you can't take it out of him.
There are eight books in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. All are set in the normally quiet town of Grand Bank on the Burin Peninsula 357 km (by a circuitous route) east of the provincial capital St. John's.
And now for the book review: Sgt. Winston Windflower is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commanding Officer of the Grand Bank RCMP Detachment. Windflower walks his collie Lady several times a day, keeping an eye on things even beyond his duty hours.
One morning while running down the lookout trail he slips, slides down the slope and right into to a frozen body wrapped in rug. The ensuring investigation links to a women injured during a hit-and-run, a house fire, and discovery of opioid drugs in an abandoned mobile home. Meanwhile, difficulties within the RCMP organization add to the complexities of Mountie life. That's all I'll say. You'll have to read Fire, Fog and Water for yourself to see how Sgt. Windflower "gets his man" and then some.
I really like how Mike Martin's mystery books give you an up close look at life in a small Newfoundland town, including its police department. He uses local vernacular in the dialogue, and includes names like Sobey's (a grocery store) that takes me back to our vacations in the Newfloundland/Labrador province. You can read any of the eight Sgt. Windflower Mystery books as a stand-alone, but I've liked reading the series in order to learn more about the backstory that keeps emerging.
Other reviews I've written for Mike Martin's Sgt. Windflower Mystery series.
A Tangled Web - Book 6 in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery SeriesA case about a missing five-year-old child quickly expands like the interconnected threads of a spider's web throughout the small community of Grand Bank, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Follow the link to the review and pictures from the trips Wayne and I took to Newfoundland in 2009 and 2014.
Darkest Before the Dawn - Book 7 in the Windflower Mystery SeriesA series of break-ins has the people of Grand Bank unnerved, then circumstances escalate and the situation quickly evolves into a murder mystery. Follow the link about to the review and a YouTube video and Google tour through the real Grand Bank.
You can find out more about Mike Martin at:
Mike Martin on Crime Writers of Canada
Mike Martin on Twitter
Mike Martin's Author Page on Amazon
Mike Martin on !ndigo
Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series on Facebook
Mike Martin book reviews on the Crafty Gardener blog
Fire, Fog and Water is available in print and ebook formats. Online options include Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and !ndigo/Chapters. -- Margy
That sounds like a book to check out! Great review. I really like series.
ReplyDeleteI like a series as well. I've been reading this one for some time thanks to a review by Crafty Gardener, a fellow Canadian. - Margy
DeleteIt is a great series, and I can't wait for the next one to be released.
ReplyDeleteI was so glad that I'd saved it for this time. His books always remind me of the good times Wayne and I had exploring Newfoundland and Labrador. - Margy
DeleteGreat review - it sounds fascinating
ReplyDeleteThanks. I tend to make my book reviews into travelogues. - Margy
DeleteSounds like a very interesting series, Margy. Tweeted and shared on Facebook. I sent a friend request, too.
ReplyDeleteJust approved the friend request, and thanks for the tweet and Facebook post. - Margy
DeleteI live 20 minutes from Canada and their literature has always interesting me but strangely I have never read a mystery series set there. I will look for it.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy it because I've visited Newfoundland twice on vacation and know some of the places mentioned in the book. - Margy
DeleteThe setting with horses and dogs does sound compelling! Thanks for your review!
ReplyDeleteI ordered the first book. Visiting Newfoundland is on my bucket list. Have you read R.L. Wright's mysteries? They take place in BC, and the protagonist is an RCMP. The first (and my favorite) is The Suspect. Thank you for reviewing!
ReplyDeleteAn intriguing part of the world that I would like to know more about.
ReplyDeleteHow I love boring sleepy little towns in the middle of nowhere where nothing ever happened until it does. And then the mystery of a murder gets really really complicated… :-) Actually I live in one of those myself.
ReplyDelete