Andrew Mayne has worked as a magician/illusionist and even had a cable series, “Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne.” If readers of his clever novels take that recommendation to heart, it will make for less sleepless nights as his stories have become famous for their literary sleight of hand.

SEA CASTLE is the fourth and latest installment in his terrific and unique Sloan McPherson series. Note that I did not refer to the book as an Underwater Investigation Unit novel. That team was disbanded after they ruffled some very powerful and influential state government feathers in SEA STORM. Sloan has now been redistributed within the Florida P.D. system and finds herself literally tripping over her next assignment when she discovers the body of a female on a Fort Lauderdale beach.

"This is an above-average thriller that never ceases to surprise readers.... [T]he experience that Andrew Mayne has created for us [is] one to truly savor."

Sloan’s initial thought is that the woman must have been murdered somewhere else and left there. This is confirmed when the medical examiner determines that the body was in the water approximately 20 hours after death. The police do not have the time or the manpower to devote to this case, but Sloan insists on running with it. To shut her up, her new boss pushes her towards the pariah in the department. Gwen Wylder, a Miami homicide detective, has been confined to a basement office away from active cases due to run-ins with her colleagues and accusations of being difficult to work with.

After a rocky start, Sloan finds herself connecting with Gwen as they are indeed two of a kind and surprisingly similar in their standing with the law enforcement community. Gwen listens to Sloan’s description of the body found in Fort Lauderdale and sees an opportunity to connect it to several cases she has never been able to solve. That the deceased was identified as a woman from Atlanta makes her death even more suspicious. What brought her all the way here to die?

Suddenly, the loose ends of Gwen’s cold cases and various disappearances of women begin to tie together. They are able to identify Carla, who they deem to be the next victim. It appears that the killer has been acting as a sort of guru, using different names each time, to lure young women into what feels like an occult or coven situation. They are then sexually assaulted and killed. Sloan and Gwen take Carla with them wherever they go as they attempt to glean as much information from her as they can.

A high-speed chase ends with the killer’s car smashing into a tree and the suspect getting away. However, Sloan and Gwen find the body of another intended victim, who is still alive, in the trunk of the abandoned vehicle. Riley should be the ideal next witness in their case. The only problem is that Sloan believes something is not adding up and needs to figure out what might be causing her self-doubt before this madman strikes again.

This is an above-average thriller that never ceases to surprise readers. I recently watched the Hulu film Boston Strangler, which alleged that the convicted killer, Albert DeSalvo, may not have acted alone. Like Sloan McPherson, readers of SEA CASTLE will get that same feeling, which makes the experience that Andrew Mayne has created for us one to truly savor.