An Incident At Bloodtide

Comments from George C. ChesbroAn Incident at Bloodtide is, perhaps, the "straightest" of my novels, or at least as traditional as I can get. It came about as a result of my move to Nyack, NY, and my desire to use my front yard---the Hudson River---as a backdrop. SynopsisDirty dealings by multinational corporations and a bizarre, black magic-wielding enemy flavor An Incident at Bloodtide, the eleventh novel-length adventure of George C. Chesbro's celebrated dwarf investigator, Dr. Robert "Mongo" Frederickson, called by Publishers Weekly "one of the most appealing creations in the detective world."Mongo and brother Garth return from an evening sail on the Hudson River to find an unwelcome guest in Garth's home---Sacra Silver, self-styled ceremonial magician and old boyfriend of Garth's wife, folksinger Mary Tree. Now that Mary's burgeoning musical career has returned her name to the record charts, Silver has decided to "retake his woman."Garth, not one to suffer fools gladly, throws Silver out the window. To Mary's distress---she knows from experience that bad things happen to people who defy the lanky sorcerer. Mongo can see that Silver's black magic act is a phony, but Mary is convinced---and terrified. When hideous practical jokes and ugly pranks begin to disrupt their lives, Mongo and Garth realize that the mystical Silver is making nasty things happen right here on the material plane.And then Garth's old friend Tom Blaine, the local riverkeeper and environmental cop, is found dead in the Hudson---horribly hacked by the passive propellers of an oil tanker. During Mongo's investigation of the death, he learns that Blaine had found that the tankers of a major shipping company have been dumping residual oil into the Hudson, then filling their empty tanks with fresh water, to be sold to Middle Eastern governments for private profit.What's the connection between a loopy warlock and a corporate raid on the public waters? Mongo learns the truth in a thrilling solo midnight raid on an oil tanker hell-bent for the Atlantic Ocean.---From the back of the Mysterious Press Advance Reading Copy