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BOOK REVIEW: Beneath the Depths by Bruce Robert Coffin
If you haven’t discovered the Portland, Maine-based crime novels of Bruce Robert Coffin, you’re in for a treat.
He’s new on the scene with Detective Sgt. John Byron of the Portland Police Department, a challenged but determined policeman who takes his job seriously, loves his work, gets in trouble with his superiors, falls into an illicit relationship with his partner, Diane, and solves the crime — pretty much concurrently.
You feel like you’re on a “ride-along” throughout the city, wherever the murders and mayhem take you, occasionally stopping at a familiar eatery for food or coffee (never doughnuts!).
Coffin’s memorable characters and Byron’s co-workers are often familiar and range on both sides of the law.
Coffins first book in the series is “Among the Shadows.” “Beneath the Depths,” the second book, was recently released. In it, a prominent attorney is found floating in the harbor with a bullet hole in his skull. Most who knew and associated with the attorney had a motive for the crime. The plot is rife with red herrings.
I savor the story, making it last since I’ll probably have to wait a year for the next adventure, which is rumored to be in process.
Pat Larrabee is a semi-retired librarian who lives at Forest Lake in Gray.
