A Major Step Up in Fiona Quinn Mystery Series With Deep Blue Murder by C. S. McDonald

 

Prologue~ Moscow, Four Years Ago… His handsome face stricken with concern, US Ambassador Jarrod Taslow ran a harried hand through his dark hair before he stepped into the hospital room. His suit jacket dangled open, and his bright blue tie hung loose below the collar of his white shirt. Quietly, he approached the doctor and nurse standing over a lovely brunette woman lying in the bed. “Doctor Vasiliev, how’s my wife?” The doctor did not look up. He set a syringe next to another syringe on the stainless-steel tray the nurse was holding. The nurse’s eyes cut to a man standing in the corner near the window, back to the ambassador, then she dropped her gaze to the tray. Placing his hand on the unconscious woman’s forehead, the doctor replied in a heavy Russian accent, “She will be fine.” His hand slipped away from the woman’s head. “I have given her a sedative to help calm her. She will need rest. She has much to deal with when she wakes.” Hitching his chin toward the man near the window, he added, “Agent Guseva will watch over her. She will sleep for many hours. You should get some rest as well, Ambassador Taslow.” Without making eye contact with the ambassador nor the agent, the doctor made his way out of the room. Keeping her gaze down, the nurse hurried to follow close behind. 

Jarrod pulled a nearby chair next to his wife, Kira’s, bedside. With a gentle sweep of his fingers, he moved an errant strand of hair from her cheek, then, taking her hand into his, he eased into the chair. From the far corner, Agent Guseva’s voice was quiet. “I am sorry for your loss, Ambassador Taslow. This is tragedy for your wife.” “Kira was so looking forward to this trip to Russia. She couldn’t wait to come home to see her parents. She hasn’t been back in over five years, and when she was invited as a guest pianist for the Moscow Symphony, she was thrilled.” “The Fedorovs were supposed to be at concert, da?” Guseva fished. Jarrod lifted his gaze to meet the agent’s. “Yes. We were given the orchestra box, stage right. I felt like I was sitting next to Kira through the entire performance. The piano was only about ten or fifteen feet away. 

When the concert began, I couldn’t believe her parents were late. When Kira took the stage, she looked over toward the box. I could see the shock and disappointment in her eyes that her parents weren’t there. Of course, we had no way of knowing…” His words fell away. “We are looking into incident. We will find who is responsible. But…as you know, the Fedorovs have been politically outspoken for long time. You are wealthy man, Ambassador. I am sure you know wealth is privilege. The Fedorovs were wealthy. But I fear their wealth and privilege made them target. It would be best, after funerals, if you return to Denmark. Take wife away from Russia. Never to return.”

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McDonald has taken a major step to expand the scope of, and additions to the base character list in her latest Fiona Quinn Mystery, Deep Blue Murder. With Fiona's marriage to Detective Nathan Landry, she has also acquired a mother-in-law... But not just any mother-in-law... Rita Landry has an extensive past in government law enforcement and now leads an agency, Global Shield, that provides discrete support to those in the political arena and others needing security assistance.

But when Rita contacts Fiona and her son Nathan to take a short trip to a secluded island, Fiona had visions of sun, swimming, and lots of casual conversation and an opportunity to get to know more about those who will also be there on the island.

But Rita and her associate are on assignment! They have been asked to come to the Island, owned by Ambassador Jarrod Taslow. Interestingly, the island has a history--the former owner supposedly committed suicide and was found at the bottom of a nearby high cliff. But Taslow had bought the island and brought his wife, Kira, who had suffered a traumatic loss of her parents while she had been performing for the Moscow Symphony. Along with his wife's caregiver, there was only three other people on the island, all those who worked to provide basic staff support to the grieving couple.

But years had passed, and things were quiet until the Ambassador had learned of a online site where his picture had been placed and, ultimately, a young teenage girl and whoever was posing as the Ambassador had begun a supposed relationship! Rita and her staff quickly started the investigation to find out not only who the girl was--and notify her parents--but also to discover the background and who was striking out at the Ambassador for...whatever reason!

While those there to handle the investigation got started, Fiona and Kira, the Ambassador's wife, who was being kept from all that was happening, soon became friends. However, Kira's caretaker seemed to resent Fiona for, perhaps, a good reason. In any event, Fiona and Kira was soon spending time on the beach and getting to know each other... That is, until a maid was found dead in the hottub--which had been prepared for Kira...

Believe me, so much is going on, you'll have a tough time keeping things straight, because there are multiple plot lines developing as we move forward. Soon, Fiona's husband was being called upon to handle the possible murder of the maid, while Rita and staff continued to investigate--which got quite complicated when the young girl showed up on the island!

Seriously, with a little bit of the horrid acts of catfishers, together with a murder and who it seemed to be intended for, as well as a disgruntled groundskeeper, there was only one way to discover what was really going on...

Make a friend with an island native to guide you...and maybe even come to your rescue as this little one did... All Fiona had to do was provide lots of banana pieces! So remember, if you are visiting a private island with no or little outside communication, do seek out and befriend the natives and give them a little love...

I was hooked by the first visit from this little fellow during a meal! They decided that something must have happened to separate him from his mother, so Fiona decided to make a friend... You get the picture!

I'm hoping that the inclusion of Global Services staff may come to visit readers in future books. The complexity and wider scope that this allows has taken the Fiona Quinn mysteries a major step toward a significant novel, without losing the wonderful flavor of a cozy mystery! If you haven't met Fiona Quinn, you may not know that she also lives with a ghost back home... So with McDonald, you're going to be thrilled with her slow build of the plot(s) but, now, you just may be able to fully grasp exactly what and whodunit! But nobody would have foreseen this closing!  I loved this one!

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