Rick Boyer

After reading a slew of stand-alone thrillers, broken only by Dick Francis's private eye series book Whip Hand, it was very refreshing to read the 1983 Edgar Winner, BILLINGSGATE SHOAL. It's the first in a series about oral surgeon and amateur sleuth Charlie "Doc" Adams. It also appears to have been Mr. Boyer's first novel, so it's even more of an achievement that he won the Edgar with it in competition with more seasoned authors.

When the book opens, we find Charlie and his wife at their show more cottage on Cape Cod. The surroundings, though lyrically described by Boyer, don't help Charlie's midlife crisis. He loves his wife, his two almost-grown sons are doing fine, and his career is successful, but there is something missing in Charlie's life. It has become boring.

Lying offshore from The Breakers, the Adamses' perhaps ironically-named cottage, is Billingsgate Shoal, where many a vessel has run aground. Charlie's binoculars spot a large boat, a trawler or dragger, aground with three men attempting repairs. Later that day, the vessel, Penelope, limps into port, where Charlie sees it just as he encounters Allan Hart, a friend of his son's, on his way out for some scuba diving. Curious about the Penelope, Charlie suggests that Allan take a look at her hull on the way out of the harbor. The next day, Charlie learns that Allan, an experienced diver, has been found dead.

Charlie's initial investigation is motivated by guilt -- he believes that Allan's death might have been an accident caused by tangling with the Penelope, and that he bears some responsibility. He just wants to track down the vessel's owner and get some peace of mind. But as this task becomes more and more difficult, he begins to suspect murder and other skulduggery. A traffic accident that breaks his wrist leaves him with a month of free time, and he uses it to pursue the case to its thrilling conclusion.

The plot of BILLINGSGATE SHOAL, while complicated with more than one set of villains, is believable and hangs together. The settings -- not limited to Cape Cod but covering much of Massachusetts -- are beautifully described and accurate as far as I could tell (I spent my college years not far from Concord, where Charlie lives). The characters, both major and minor, are multi-dimensional, and humorous dialogue and situations occur naturally throughout the book, giving some much-needed relief from the scary parts.

BILLINGSGATE SHOAL isn't a book that leaves you breathless, although there were many breath-holding moments of suspense. It's a mix of the traditional amateur sleuth mystery with the action thriller in which every aspect -- plot, characters, setting -- is done really, really well. I found it richly deserving of its award and will plan to read the rest of the Doc Adams series. show less

Frankly, I liked the first half of the book the most when Dr. Watson arrived at the Allistair estate, I started to lose interest. I appreciated the gothic horror element to this book, but the second half became a somewhat bland tour through elite-country-living in the nineteenth century that overstayed its welcome in the ending. Although, I did like the climax and seeing how vulnerable Holmes and Watson became and why they maybe did not want to include this story in the oeuvre of their show more adventures. The ending did go on forever though.
Overall, I did like this book, but I felt the story was overwritten for what it was; a Sherlockian mystery with a gothic horror element that is unfortunately explained away at the end. It was sort of an anti-climax for me (not necessarily a bad thing but here it was a little disappointing). Would I recommend this one? I don’t know. I wasn’t mad that I read it. I wasn’t bored throughout the whole thing. Well, if you feel the need for a Sherlock Holmes story, I guess this could scratch that itch. show less

An American father of 12 shares his views on learning and education. There are some good sections: he separates education from 'schooling' and talks of the importance of motivation and following children's interests. However there are also some strange (and sometimes irrelevant) biases in the book, such as his objection to Christian rock music and the television.

This is a solid pastiche. The tone of the narration is dead on. I'm not sure I wholly agree with the choice of villain (and I don't mean the rat). But you would have to look hard to find a better Sherlock Holmes pastiche.