Deadly Depths has all the ingredients of a great read. It has vivid, well-developed characters, twists and turns you might not see coming and great pacing. It is rooted in a dark history that has lived in the shadows.

Oceanview Publishing August 2023

The author, John F. Dobbyn has the right credentials and mystery writing experience to expertly ground the story in the time of English and Spanish colonization, pirates, and the devastation of the cultures found here in the Americas. That may be background, but it drives the thriller forward.

John F. Dobbyn, a former law professor, is the author of the award winning Michael Knight and Lex Devlin legal thriller series. Twenty-five of his short stories have been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. This is his seventh novel.

As the book opens, law professor Matthew Shane learns his friend, mentor, and surrogate father, Barrington Holmes, is dead. The police rule it a suicide but once the devastated Matthew sees the crime scene, he knows his friend was murdered. He promises Holmes’ wife that he will find who did it.

Thus, the beginning of a mystery that takes the reader on a great ride. Matthew learns that Holmes was part of a group of five archeologists called Monkey Paws. They were in search of an object of great historical and, of course, financial significance. At a card game, a mysterious character shows up for a hand and gives each archeologist a partial clue to discover where and what the object is.

Unexpected events prevent the archeologists from meeting again to put together their clues and begin their quest. This puzzle takes Matthew to Montreal, New Orleans, Marseilles, and Jamaica to find the artifact. Each location brings its own travails. Most interesting was the history and culture of the Maroons, the native people of Jamaica.

Although a book within a book is not something I usually enjoy, the memoir included within the story of a young Welsh boy, Dylan, is riveting. The boy, rescued by the notorious pirate, Captain Henry Morgan, tells an enthralling story from the pirates’ point of view and flawlessly moves the story forward.

The only minor criticism I have is that it is a bit overwritten. Sometimes less is more. And Matthew, our hero, is a prince of men. He is devoted, smart, experienced in every way that enables him to push through the many obstacles. He is immediately trusted by strangers in a world of lies and double meanings. His integrity is unassailable. A couple of missteps or misjudgments may have increased the tension.

But overall, it was a terrific read. An action packed adventure with a fascinating peek into a history we might not have known about. I highly recommend it.