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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 7, No. 10 |
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CLYDE W. FORD'S "PRECIOUS CARGO" A CHARLIE NOBLE MARITIME MYSTERY
At left, the second Charlie Noble mystery; at right, Clyde Ford signs his Charlie Noble mysteries at a Seattle book-signing appearance. |
Meet a spirited new voice
in the mystery world
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
In the opening pages
of Clyde W. Ford's new mystery "Precious Cargo" (Mystic
Voyager Books, $15.95), a middleaged couple weighs anchor off
Cypress Island along the Washington coast, preparing to test
the boat thoroughly before setting sail to Alaska.
Well, at least they intended to weigh anchor. Something seems
to be snagged in the anchor and they're reluctant to pull too
hard for fear they'll snap the chain and lose the anchor entirely.
Slowly they work the winch until the anchor starts to emerge
from the water. That's when things really go to hell in a handbasket.
They discover what's been snagging the anchor: The remains of a young woman, partially eaten by crabs, chained to au underwater rock and left to rot.
It's a stirring opening for the second mystery featuring Charlie Noble, an ex-Coast Guard officer who's now making a living solving maritime mysteries in the port city of Bellingham, WA, and the nearby San Juan Islands. He's the creation of author Clyde W. Ford, an African-American psychotherapist who turned to mystery writing a few years ago and now has two detective series going--one featuring Charlie Noble and the quite different "Shango" series, set in New York City.
I found "Precious Cargo" a fascinating read for two very logical reasons. First, it's a solid mystery with a likeable detective hero. Second, it's set in the Bellingham and Whatcom County area, which has been by own home territory since 2001. Like all good mystery writers, Ford makes excellent use of this environment, giving the reader a very accurate reading on what life is like in this beautiful stretch of Pacific Northwest coastal geography. He also links his mystery to several extremely timely developments in the Bellingham area.
For instance, there's currently a raging public controversy over the pending development of housing along Chuckanut Ridge, the beautiful wooded mountain slopes that provide the backdrop to the southern portion of Bellingham. Ford jimmies open that hot topic and crams the heart of his mystery right into it.
He even gives himself a Hitchcockian "cameo" moment in the novel, having Charlie strike up a conversation with a local Bellingham mystery writer in a real Tapas bar in the town's Fairhaven district. If the writer isn't Ford himself, then Ford obviously has become a victim of identity theft.
Mystery fans in general should enjoy the way Charlie and his new partner, Raven, a Native American who runs a local diving business, solve what turns out to be a much more complex murder mystery than first imagined. They know they're really in deep when Raven dives for more evidence about the dead woman and discovers more dead women, chained to rocks in Cypress Island's Eagle Harbor. Who are these women and who's been murdering them, then mooring them in this nightmarish underesea graveyard? That's the question. Meanwhile, unknown assailants keep trying to stop their investigation by killing Charlie and Raven in swift, violent fashion.
Ford, who's an avid sailor himself, adds a big extra incentive for mystery readers who also love maritime thrillers. At least half the action takes place at sea and the final chapters find Charlie trying to outwit the bad guys in dense fog and stormy seas, even though he's outgunned and outpowered by the enemy.
In person, author Ford is a charming, witty guy who admits people naturally assume he's writing about himself in every Charlie Noble story.
"Some people even call me Charlie when they see me," he told a huge crowd at a recent book-signing appearance at Bellingham'sVillage Books. "I don't mind."
Ford says he really isn't Charlie, but concedes the longer he writes about him, the better he gets to know him. In fact, he says he felt Charlie "looking over my shoulder" while he was writing "Precious Cargo" aboard his own boat last year. The third Charlie Noble mystery, "Whiskey Gulf," is due out later this year.
When I asked him if he thought some local developer might put out a contract on him after making the controversial Chuckanut Ridge housing development so cnetral to the murder mystery in the book, Ford laughed and said, "Any publicity is good publicity, so bring it on!"
I couldn't help thinking, while reading "Precious Cargo," that it might make a great movie for one of today's major African-American stars, maybe someone like Morgan Freeman. Ironically, somebody in the crowd asked Ford that question and he said a copy of the novel actually has been forwarded to Morgan Freeman, who Ford knows slightly. Let's hope something happens there.
In the meantime, the book is a good one and I highly recommend it to mystery fans looking for something quite different in what's become a very crowded field these days.
©2006 by Ron Miller.
The photos of Clyde W. Ford and his book cover are courtesy of
Ford's personal website. This column first posted Feb. 20, 2006.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
You can comment on this column online. Please address your message to either "The Editors" or Ron Miller. To send an email, click here and don't forget to mention Ron's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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