Newfoundland thriller a rollicking, well-knit yarn

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/03/2023 (1290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Everyone loves Gertie, a superstar in the world of quilters, sewists and fabric artists. Pilgrims come from all over to her island home in Newfoundland to show their love, adulation shared by everyone — oh wait, oh dear, oh goodness, look at all that blood.

Apparently not entirely everyone loves Gertie. Or, rather, loved Gertie. After all, it is a murder mystery.

Our first-person narrator, St. John’s private eye/tour guide Sebastian Synard, has come to Fogo Island for a long weekend with romantic partner/quilting supplies store owner Mae (of no discernible surname).

Mae is quite the fanatic about quilting, though Sebastian is feigning enthusiasm to boost his chances of what he hopes (blush) will happen later, as they approach Gertie’s shop, after hours but the door unlocked.

Pause for suspense.

And there’s our beloved victim, stabbed in the back.

Synard, of course, insinuates himself into the investigation right away, with Mae as his invaluable sidekick, able to speak quilting and, unlike him, not have to fake empathy as she quickly gathers oodles of information and clues.

The small local Mountie detachment is unhappy to have Synard involved in any way, and Sebastian soon lets drop that he and the sergeant heading the detachment were once a thing, though how and when it happened and ended badly, he doesn’t tell us.

Also present are Sebastian’s ex, Samantha, and her new partner, D.I. Frederick of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, somewhat of a nemesis to Sebastian.

Sebastian sees himself as Poirot to Frederick’s Inspector Japp, though Frederick may actually be the smarter of the two.

Indeed, author Kevin Major is quite self-deprecating in his portrayal of Sebastian, a man quite full of himself whose talents don’t quite measure up to his own self-evaluation.

This is Major’s fourth book in the Sebastian Synard series, the 23rd book he’s written, and quite the popular writer he is, having won or been shortlisted for numerous Canadian writing awards.

Four for Fogo Islands is humourous, quite good-natured, full of colourful characters and a welcome addition to those magnificent TV commercials that make us all want to visit Newfoundland and Labrador.

Did your book club even know that the Change Islands existed, a minor ferry ride partner to Fogo Island and quite close to Twillingate?

Major even conjures up a reason for Sebastian and Mae to visit the Fogo Island Inn, the world-renowned resort overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. You’ll drool, but be warned: if you have to Google the prices at 529 Wellington before making a reservation, your heart may not be able to handle the prices at the Fogo Island Inn.

The problem with Four for Fogo Island is that there’s so little here. It is amazingly short — so short that we just gallop along merrily and then suddenly it’s over, and (spoiler alert) it’s still not clear what actually happened or who has done in poor Gertie.

Canadian murder mysteries are getting shorter all the time. Not the big leaguers, of course — not Louise Penny or Anne Emery, who write books that take a bit of muscle to lift and which you can get stuck into for days, replete with character development and plot. But the lesser-known authors who focus on smaller regions… they don’t always give us a lot.

Books by Major, Louise Carson, Winnipeg’s own Raye Anderson, Charles Demers and Daniel Kalla typically come in at less than 300 pages, and sometimes flirting with 200. Four for Fogo Island claims 220ish pages, but they’re small, and chapters are sometimes followed by a blank page.

To call the book a pleasant trifle is somewhat unfair to trifles. One wonders what Sebastian could do with 350 pages to sleuth.

With Four for Fogo Island, you’re here for a good time, not a long time.

Retired Free Press reporter Nick Martin and his wife will tour Newfoundland and Labrador this summer. Alas, the Fogo Island Inn was just a tad too dear.