Gray Ghost

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Seven years ago, Stoney Calhoun woke up in a VA hospital with no memories.  He still remembers nothing from before then, except that he has a few unexplained skills--a gift for angling, an ability to read French--and recently it's been made clear to him that it would be best if he never does. Working as a guide on Casco Bay, Stoney is out with a client on an early morning fly fishing expedition when they find the charred remains of a recent corpse on a small, uninhabited island. A couple of days later, Calhoun's client turns up in the driveway of Stoney's cabin in the woods--shot dead in the front seat of his SUV. In the midst of a couple of inexplicable murders, both of which clearly have something to do with Stoney, past or present, it's up to him find out the truth...or risk becoming the next victim.From Publishers WeeklyThe pleasures of the outdoors lift the second Stoney Calhoun novel (after 2004's Bitch Creek) from Tapply, best known for his many mysteries about Boston lawyer Brady Coyne (Out Cold, etc.). Stoney, who lost his memory when he was struck by lightning years earlier, knows how to tie a gray ghost—a fly used for salmon—as well as other skills useful to his new life as half-owner of a bait shop in Portland, Maine. Occasionally, hints about his past arrive like muscle twinges—survival skills of the sort learned in law enforcement, reinforced by infrequent visits from "a grayish, nondescript guy from some government agency who'd been sent to keep an eye on him." But Stoney is mostly on his own as he struggles to find out why a burned corpse turns up on a small island, and why the fishing client who was with him when they discovered the body is also killed. Readers will look forward to learning more about Tapply's new character, who with any luck will be around as long as Brady Coyne. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistSeven years ago Stony Calhoun emerged from a VA hospital with the memory of his previous life ostensibly obliterated by a direct lightning strike. He has curious attributes of unknown origin, including proficiency in hand-to-hand combat and knowledge of criminal investigation. Settled into a nondescript but contented life as a partner in a fishing-guide business on the coast of Maine, Stony believes his synaptic gap is a good thing. Then he and a client discover the charred remains of an anonymous body on an uninhabited island, and later, the client is murdered on the porch of Stony's isolated cabin. The local sheriff, who used Stony's investigatory skills in Bitch Creek (2004), enlists his reluctant cooperation again. Nothing is as it appears as Stony's role morphs from witness to suspect to investigator to target. Tapply, best known to mystery fans as the author of the delightful Brady Coyne series, presents a complex plot with wonderful characters while teasing readers with small hints about his protagonist's murky past. Here's hoping this series will take hold the way the Coyne novels did decades ago. Wes LukowskyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved