Shark Island by Joan Druett

Description

Bibliographic Details

• Author: Joan Druett
• Title: Shark Island (Wiki Coffin Mystery Series)
• Publisher: ‎ Minotaur Books; First Edition (October 1, 2005)
• Language: ‎ English
• Format: Hardcover – 292 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 0312334567
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0312334567
• Item Weight: ‎ .60 pounds
• Dimensions: ‎ 5.74 x 1.11 x 8.54 inches
• Book Condition: New / Like New – Excellent
• Dust Jacket Condition: Excellent
• Edition: First Edition

Synopsis:

Wiki Coffin, linguist aboard the U.S. Exploring Expedition, the famous voyage meant to put America at the forefront of 19th century scientific discovery, brings many skills to his job. Whether he's translating native languages, assisting his good friend Captain George Rochester as unofficial first mate, or upholding the rule of law as deputy to the sheriff of the port of Virginia, Wiki is never far from the action aboard the seven ships that make up the expedition.

But when they encounter a wrecked sealing ship and its desperate crew on the shoals of remote, uninhabited Shark Island, Wiki has little idea just how many of his skills are about to be put to the test. As soon as they board the wreck, a dead body turns up with a dagger firmly inserted between its shoulder blades. And it's not just any dead body: the victim of the brutal murder is none other than the enigmatic captain of the doomed voyage. What’s more, Wiki's colleague and nemesis Lieutenant Forsythe is suspected of the crime.

Knowing full well that Forsythe is capable of such violence, Wiki nonetheless believes him innocent and is duty-bound to prove it for the good of the expedition. Was the murder a case of mutinous sealers taking the law into their own hands? Did the secrets of several mysterious long-ago voyages finally come back to haunt a dishonest and dishonorable captain? Or is Shark Island home to something more sinister than a few lonely goats? Something isn't quite right about the crew of the wrecked ship, and Wiki will stop at nothing to find out just what it is that they're hiding, and, in the process, unmask a vicious killer.

About the Author:

I have written for as long as I can remember: my mother kept a "book" I wrote when I was four. It was several pages long, was well illustrated, told a story, and had no spelling mistakes!

In my teens I wrote for Maori and science fiction magazines. In my early twenties I worked in Toronto at a university press, and then in London as a copy editor for Gollanz.

Back in New Zealand, I wrote travel articles for international magazines and regularly reviewed books for the "New Zealand Herald". This — plus teaching college level biology — was interrupted when I stumbled over the grave of a young whaling wife on the tropical island of Rarotonga. It was a life-changing experience.

A Fulbright fellowship led to five months of research in New Bedford and Edgartown, Massachusetts; Mystic, Connecticut; and San Francisco, California. The result was the first in a series of books about seafaring wives, all of which have received awards.

Three years on a joint fellowship (with my maritime artist husband, the dear, departed Ron Druett) in the village of Orient on Long Island, led to participation in a prize-winning exhibit, “The Sailing Circle," which received substantial funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This project won the highly prestigious Albert Corey Award.

Back in New Zealand, I was lucky in getting another fellowship, the Stout Fellowship at Victoria University, Wellington.

This gave me the opportunity to keep on writing. Maritime stories for international magazines followed, and I reviewed books for the Boston Globe, the Listener, and other prestigious newspapers and journals. And of course there were books, including "Island of the Lost," which has become an enduring classic in the survival genre, and has been translated in Italy and Ukraine.

"Tupaia," the biography of an astonishingly brilliant Tahitian priest and navigator, who sailed with Captain Cook. This won the NZ Post Best Non-fiction Book award, and. has been translated into Chinese and French.