by Randy Overbeck
Release Date: July 20, 2020
2020 The Wild Rose Press
Ebook Edition; 414 Pages
ISBN: 978-1509231638
ASIN: B089P2PG1B
Audiobook: B09D5Z9XQW
Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Paranormal
Source: Review copy from Cozy Mystery Review
3.75 / 5 Stars
Summary
No matter how far you run, you can never really escape a haunted past. Darrell Henshaw-teacher, coach, and paranormal sensitive-learned this lesson the hard way. Now, with his job gone and few options, he heads for Cape May to coach a summer football camp. The resort town, with gorgeous beaches, rich history and famous Victorian mansions, might just be the getaway he needs. Only, no one told him Cape May is the most haunted seaport on the East Coast. When a resident ghost, the Haunted Bride, stalks Darrell, begging for his help, he can't refuse, and joins forces with Cassie, another sensitive. As Darrell and the street-wise teen investigate the bride's death, they uncover something far more sinister than a murder. Can Darrell and Cassie expose those behind the crimes before they end up becoming the next victims?
My Thoughts
Crimson at Cape May is the second book in A Haunted Shores Mystery series and features Derrell Henshaw, who has recently been let go from his high school teaching position, coaching at a football camp in Camp May. The reasons for him being let go featured in the first book, but the consequences carried into the second book, issues with which I had no problems understanding or sympathizing. I actually thought the author did a credible job merging the two stories without taking the focus of the story being developed in this book. While I did enjoy the overall story and characters, I did find it a bit slow in some parts, it was easy to figure out the actual villain, and there were some inconsistencies, especially for those of us who grew up in the nineties, that I just had to ignore.
For the most part, the characters were rather interesting and distinct. Things weren't going so well for Darrell at the beginning of this book as he had lost his job and his girlfriend and was in Cape May working at a football camp to earn some money. The stress was creating anxiety and affecting his OCD, so when he again starts seeing ghosts, he doesn't react very well to those sightings and it takes a lot of persuasion for him to help them. Considering the ghosts got him into a lot of trouble in the previous book, I understood his reluctance as I think it was consistent with his life at the moment. When things started to go better for him in his life, he was more receptive to the ghosts, and that made a lot of sense. I really enjoyed Cassie as a character and liked how realistically she was portrayed. Some of her life was definitely downplayed to keep the book clean, but you got enough to read between the lines and understand how difficult it is for kids on the street when their home lives are terrible.
The pacing was a bit slow at times, but the story essentially had three mysteries woven into it: first, there was the problem with Derrell and why he lost his job, events from the previous book; two, the ghost that kept appearing to Derrell, the mysterious bride, presented the next mystery; and three, the issue with one of Derrell's students whose older sister had gone missing which led into a sex trafficking scenario. I really appreciated the fact the author dove into more serious issues in this book as it's very relevant today. Sex trafficking is definitely not new and I liked how the author was pointing out that everyone who turns their head when noticing something is wrong is part of the problem, and allowing influential people to get away with criminal behaviour is problematic. It was done subtly, and in such a way that we should always be on the lookout for odd behaviours and talk to our children about being wary; you know if a thing sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and you should run as fast as you can. I find comments about sex trafficking in the nineties quite interesting, especially from those who say they had no idea because as a uni student in the late 80' and early 90's we knew to avoid those jobs where you went to a 'warehouse' for an interview as they were probably for porno and these types of things. So yes, it was definitely around. And those 'job advertisements' were everywhere.
Verdict
Crimson at Cape May was an enjoyable read, and if you love the paranormal as well as interesting characters, then this is for you. Personally, I prefer something a bit more gritty, but the themes running through this book were quite serious; they were also presented in a way that were not overly graphic or biased, but are definitely something that are relevant in today's world. I did find that Derrell's character development was a bit inconsistent, and I had a problem with the whole cellphone thing in this book, not his purchase of it, but his use as he would definitely not have been able to make a call in the backwoods in 1999 as cell reception during that time was terrible. I was also not impressed with who the villain was in this book as I tend to need legitimate motivations and reasons and that was lacking in my estimation. However, if you are looking for a book that is a mix of paranormal and mystery, and like deeper themes that aren't too explicit, then this book is definitely for you.
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