Rhythm of the August Rain

This is my first book by Gillian Royes, although she has written five other novels. This is the fourth in a series about Shadrack Myers, a local Jamaican bartender and charismatic personality who serves as Largo Bay’s private investigator. While this is a murder mystery, it is mostly a story about relationships. Shad’s boss, Eric has a problem. 13 years earlier, he had been involved with Shannon who despite Eric’s stated wish never to have children, got pregnant and decided to have the baby. She promptly left Jamaica to return to Michigan where she worked as a photographer and writer. Eric faithfully sent money for this child, Eve, even though he had only seen her twice. As her 13^th birthday approached, she had never visited Jamaica. Both parents seemed resentful of one another and neither was willing to work towards some better understanding of their situation. Meanwhile, Eric started a new relationship with Simone who after spending a year in Jamaica, had returned to her life in Atlanta while maintaining contact with Eric. In this book, Shannon and Simone were set on a collision course.

Shannon, who was traveling the world for her photojournalist assignments, was sent to Jamaica on a two-fold assignment. Her editor wanted her to research and write about the Rastafarians, but she also wanted her to solve a 35-year-old murder that had taken place there. The death of Katlyn Carrington and the disappearance of her body somehow also involved the Rastafarians. Meanwhile, Eve had turned into a resentful and troubled teenager who did not want to accompany her mother to Jamaica. She complained that her father had never shown any real interest in her and she did not look forward to the chance to get to know him. Of course, Eric’s life was anything but simple and Simone was expected to arrive for a visit while Shannon was still working on her assignment. Meanwhile, Shad’s woman, Beth, who had born him children, was demanding that they finally marry. Shad got wrapped up in the hunt for the Katlyn, which of course impacted the wedding plans, which he hated anyhow.

I though the best part of the book was the information about the secretive Rastafarians, their beliefs, their language, and their society – about which I knew next to nothing. The author wrote a great deal of dialogue in the patois of Jamaica, especially that which is peculiar to the Rastafarians. I thought the murder investigation took a long time to develop, but Royes did a good job tying up all the loose ends by the end of the novel. The book is still in pre-publication, and it should be available from Atria Books by 7/28/15.