Maritime whodunit revels in the unexpected

Winnipeg Free Press

20 hours ago

Finding a right-wing senator's daughter who hasn't been seen for a few hours around a Bay of Fundy lobster fishing port is really well below homicide detective Kes Morris's capabilities, but it's a chance for her to show she's off the pills, off the depression, she's got her head screwed on straight again.
Who could possibly have foreseen that Morris would stumble upon a murder — neigh, make that murders — most egregious? Or that horses, fast boats in the night and exceptionally powerful people might be involved?
As one character says, there are different rules for the wealthy and, indeed, there appear to be.
Salt on Her Tongue
Morris first appeared in the stunning murder mystery Beneath Her Skin in January of 2022, and hasn't been seen since. Given that author C.S. Porter is a pseudonym for a Canadian crime writer, she (or he, or they) may have been writing other works in the interim. We all feel the loss.
Morris has made a mess of her life in those intervening years, but as in the first book, we don't get all the answers we crave; no one goes through life reiterating what's gone on before.
Some authors besiege you with so much backstory that there's no point in buying the previous books, and readers may despair of ever getting into the new adventure. Not so with Porter.
Once again where we are is a tad mysterious, though members of your book club who are sleuthing fiction aficionados may seize upon the publisher's being in Halifax and the Nova Scotia government's assisting with grants, and point to them as, as we lovers of crime fiction call them, clues.
Porter says only that this is happening on the Bay of Fundy, about two hours' drive from a major city, unnamed; there's one reference to Toronto, a couple mentions of the RCMP, and that's it for proper names.
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Salt on Her Tongue is a mere 250-odd pages, but feels far longer. The secondary characters all read quite real: the contemptuous and contemptible powerful and wealthy, the pushed-aside local police chief in a town where nothing much ever happens, the fishing boat skipper who gets constantly underestimated, the devious, manipulative scheming young student, Kes's ex (glad to be rid) of her and their daughter, whom Kes rarely sees, being married to the job and all.
Kes has a long-suffering boss who appreciates her talent but has had it up to here with her lone-wolf insubordination. And, of course, there's the requisite genius hacker who breaks umpteen laws to help Kes.
The plot takes us in directions entirely unexpected, which is always to be cherished, and to unanticipated outcomes — well, those you'll have to read for yourself.
Salt on Her Tongue is not the extraordinary debut that Beneath Her Skin was, but it's darned good; it just quietly puts its hooks into you, and before you know it, you're turning the final pages, totally entranced.
Retired Free Press reporter Nick Martin wonders how many Canadian senators have the clout to order a major police department to do their bidding; better yet, how many senators can your book club name?