Started: October 26, 2023 | October 30, 2023
A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart
As the title implies, this book has an underlying theme of loneliness running through its many layers. There is the healthy, normal kind of loneliness then there is the dark kind of loneliness which is at the center of the mystery in this book.
"A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart" is the fifth Garrison Gage mystery and the best book of the series so far. The Achilles heel of the previous books was the mystery at the heart of the books which I always found flawed in some way. But not this time.
Carter has written a very good mystery in "A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart". The build up to the ending was thrilling several times over and truly, and satisfyingly baffling, at times. I was a bit worried about how Carter would wrap it up and am happy to report that the denouement was very satisfying.
The strength of the Garrison Gage mysteries- and what has kept me coming back - is the handful of characters that Carter writes about book after book with Garrison at the center. As I read book after book these characters become familiar to me like old friends. The town of Barnacle Bluffs itself is a pseudo-character, Carter writes about the different moods of this location and it provides a welcome atmospheric feel to his stories.
"A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart" is about a supposedly open-and-shut suicide case that happened in the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It is at the heart of a mystery that involves assassins, a pop celebrity, and a small fortune.
Carter manages to include several thrilling scenes and Garrison's best dalliance since the one with Karen Pantelli in "The Lovely Wicked Rain".
If you have been a devotee of the Garrison Gage mysteries like me you will be amply rewarded by reading this book since it marks an uptick in story quality.