Murder on the Pier by Jere Myles
I love a good mystery and have often reread Sherlock Holmes. I thrive on good drama; who didn't enjoy watching Bogart in Maltese Falcon. The best old movies were well acted dramas taken from stage productions and put onto film. None of those high energy special effects. Just high adrenaline dramatic dialogue and narrative.
In Murder on the Pier Jere Myles has woven a drama entwined in a mystery that is more evident to the readers than to the players. For the players it's the story of their search for love and affirmation in a world that seems to have gone mad. Though the world would argue the players are the ones gone mad. The nature of their lives as it all unfolds is at the very least thought provoking. Jere Myles handles the plight of the outcasts, the gay, in a mature and believable manner.
He treats everyone the same in as much as they have the same abilities and stumbling blocks.
"The biggest hurdle we have to leap in this world is the one we place in front of ourselves. No one cares whether you live or die unless you care." -Dr. Mieko Mitchell
This is life seen from a place many people I'm acquainted with don't often want to go. And yet in this place I found many words and ideals I've often tried to express, put on a page in such an eloquent way it drew me into this enchanting world.
Mieko is a remarkable man, a psychiatrist, who is loved by many and his death brings these people closer together as they try to continue their lives and find out what really happened to him. His death is listed by the police as a suicide but there is nothing other than outdated prejudice of other people that would indicate a reason for these people to believe that.
Jon and Eileen begin a road down memory lane recalling when they first met and how Eileen introduced Jon to Meiko. They both are hurt and have only each other to turn to. We begin to see a true picture of the Meiko they remember and the one that was. We know that there was no way suicide should ever have been considered.
This part of the mystery unfolds as a tense suspense filled drama for the reader who knows that there are still killers out there and that those killers don't seem to be finished with their job. This becomes increasingly evident when Jon begins to champion the causes that Mieko began and runs afoul of the unknown. He and Eileen will be in great danger. It will take a lot to find anyone who will believe them and when they do it might be too late.
There's more murder ahead. The game is afoot. And I'm surprised this novel has not gained more awards and accolades than it has.
J.L. Dobias