Fleeting Chance: An Enescu Fleet Mystery

Young’s fourth Enescu Fleet mystery (after 2013’s Fleeting Note) is a nice blend of humor and detection, with a clever resolution that may surprise even veteran whodunit readers. “Sort of a modern, bearded Sherlock Holmes with a pronounced Hemingway complex,” Fleet and his loyal sidekick, John Hathaway—who’s about to marry his longtime love interest, Lesley Darlington—are among the passengers on The Stacked Deck, a yacht off the coast of Astorbay, Canada. A late-night poker game turns unexpectedly eventful when the play is interrupted by a cry of "man overboard." Fleet quickly retrieves the fallen passenger, math professor Arnold Bernard, from the cold waters, but when John returns to the parlor to resume the game, he finds that another player, Leslie MacDonald, has been stabbed to death. MacDonald’s death is not the end of the violence, and a disappearance ups the ante for John significantly. Readers who prefer murder puzzles with a light touch will be satisfied. (BookLife)