White Shark by Ross Gresham

Summer on a residential island off the Massachusetts coast means summer temps to deal with the tourists. Jim Hawkins, a veteran who was discharged under a bit of a cloud, follows his current girlfriend to Nausset and gets a job as a ‘parking warden’ meaning he directed traffic on and off the ferry while handing out parking tickets.

He hadn’t expected to have to deal with a Viking suicide. A local property developer sets his boat adrift and sets it on fire. Thing is, most of the island residents didn’t give it a second thought.

Jim’s girlfriend dumps him not long after he started handing out parking tickets so he set up house on the beach of an uninhabited island just off Nausset’s coast. So his daily commute is a brisk swim across the gap and trying to avoid a shark rumored to inhabit the waters. While the island is deserted and has been for some time, it has a bit of a history, not the least of which includes failed attempts at development (see Viking funeral above).

Nausset hums to its own rhythm. Fading aristocrats who spend their days on porches or parties in the parks and are waited on by nearly nameless immigrants riding out time on their work permits.

One such immigrant from one of the Russian Republics has disappeared. Her sister has gathered all her money and a suitcase of clothes to come look for her at her LKA, last known address – Nausset. The local cops really don’t care much about a lost servant, drunk college kids, the Nuevo-riche who come and go, or the fallout of failed land deals as long as they get their daily ice cream comped. Jim may be one of the worst cops ever to wear a badge, but he’s not going to let someone in trouble to go uncared for. Seems that trait got him some hot water in Afghanistan and it looks like he didn’t learn his lesson - once a good guy, always a good guy.

He wasn’t hired to find missing girls, save burning bodies, or investigate shark attacks. He’s just here to give out parking tickets and maybe get lucky with local or visiting chicks, one of whom meets up with the channel shark shortly after a teasing conversation with Hawkins.

This book was recommended by a one of MRB's best friends, Charlie Stella. Think he must've met Gresham in some creative writing workshop. Gresham teaches at the Air Force Academy and has done the faculty thing by publishing in academe. If I have the history correct, this is his first commercial novel that will become a series of Jim Hawkins books. And it’s really a fun read. Hawkins is the reluctant hero, stumbling around trying to find his way post-military before landing on Nausset where he continues to bumble around investigating problems that much of the old guard of the island would prefer to be left alone. Clever, funny, and dark; a good prescription for a beach read. So take White Shark to the beach this summer. More fun than digging moats or hunting for sand crabs . . . just keep an eye out for Nausset's shark.

Available May 18, 2016