Dirty dealings by multinational corporations and a bizarre, black
magic-wielding enemy flavor An Incident at Bloodtide, the
eleventh novel-length adventure of George C. Chesbro's celebrated
dwarf investigator, Dr. Robert "Mongo" Frederickson, called
by Publishers Weekly "one of the most appealing creations
in the detective world."
Mongo and brother Garth return from an evening sail on the Hudson
River to find an unwelcome guest in Garth's home---Sacra Silver,
self-styled ceremonial magician and old boyfriend of Garth's wife,
folksinger Mary Tree. Now that Mary's burgeoning musical career has
returned her name to the record charts, Silver has decided to
"retake his woman."
Garth, not one to suffer fools gladly, throws Silver out the window.
To Mary's distress---she knows from experience that bad things happen
to people who defy the lanky sorcerer. Mongo can see that Silver's
black magic act is a phony, but Mary is convinced---and terrified.
When hideous practical jokes and ugly pranks begin to disrupt their
lives, Mongo and Garth realize that the mystical Silver is making
nasty things happen right here on the material plane.
And then Garth's old friend Tom Blaine, the local riverkeeper and
environmental cop, is found dead in the Hudson---horribly hacked by
the passive propellers of an oil tanker. During Mongo's investigation
of the death, he learns that Blaine had found that the tankers of a
major shipping company have been dumping residual oil into the Hudson,
then filling their empty tanks with fresh water, to be sold to Middle
Eastern governments for private profit.
What's the connection between a loopy warlock and a corporate raid on
the public waters? Mongo learns the truth in a thrilling solo
midnight raid on an oil tanker hell-bent for the Atlantic Ocean.
