The St. Lucia Island Club: A John Le Brun Novel

Set in 1910, Monahan’s thoroughly enjoyable fifth John Le Brun novel (after 2015’s The St. Simon’s Island Club) takes the erudite private detective and his brilliant and resourceful wife, Lordis, from Manhattan to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia for a belated honeymoon. Although St. Lucia is billed as an unspoiled paradise, it doesn’t take long for the couple to observe an undercurrent of tension on the island, where workers are treated as virtual slaves and a strict racial caste system is in place. When a mansion on one of the plantations is consumed by flames, killing all inside, John investigates. Surrounded by strangers, he can only trust Lordis. Together they uncover unsavory elements from the past and a desperate scheme to change the island’s fortunes. Monahan does a fine job evoking the period, when the clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages can still be heard amid the din of the newfangled automobiles. This is a mystery you read for the ambience, not for any rapid-fire action. [em](Aug.) [/em]