Mystery, They Wrote

When I was working full time in Corporate America I did a lot of international travel – trust me, it’s not nearly as glamorous as it sounds. We often worked ‘round the clock, seven days a week. Nonetheless, it more than paid the bills. One of the biggest problems for me was the fact that I don’t like to fly. I’m not really afraid, I just hate being cooped up in an uncomfortable seat, unable to sleep, for 8+ hours. So, over time, I began to collect “airplane books.” I’d start compiling the stack the day my plane reservations were made.

Airplane books had very specific criteria – they could not be written by first-time authors. Nothing worse than getting into the first chapter only to discover you really didn’t like the book and then had to lug the darn thing all over Europe. So, I only took books by tried-and-true writers. People whose books I had read before and I was fairly certain would be interesting and engaging, would move quick enough to keep me turning pages, and yet not so violent or frightening that I’d be constantly looking over my shoulder embarking from the plane. Snakes on a Plane was definitely not an airplane book. But anything by Bill Tapply always was.

Bill Tapply is one of those authors who consistently deliver the goods – he’s never been on the bestseller list, but he provides a good read every time. He’s written 24 mystery books featuring attorney Brady Coyne and two featuring Maine fishing guide Stoney Calhoun. His writing is clear and concise, the characters carefully drawn, the plots worth puzzling over and some underlying point is subtly made. I like these books – I trust them.

It was after I read A Fly-Fishing Life (The Lyons Press, 1997) and The Elements of Mystery Fiction (The Writer, Inc., 1995) that I discovered that Bill Tapply is not only a mystery author, but a dreamer, a hunter, a fly-fisherman, a son, and probably the best teacher a writer could hope to have. Today he’s a professor of English at Clark University in Worcester, MA. He’s written almost one thousand articles on writing and fly-fishing and he does it with the same intelligence and gentle wit that he tells his mystery stories. This is some wise advice from “Invisible Writing” (Sportsman’s Legacy, 1995):

Tapply gets right to the heart of the matter. Not a word is wasted; there is no fluff, no fill, and whether he is writing a Brady Coyne mystery, an article on the eating habits of panfish (they’ll eat anything) or divulging the secrets of writing the whodunit, he does it with grace and charm.

And his most recent book, Hell Bent, is just another fine example. Brady Coyne is a lawyer, but this is in no way a legal thriller. A lawyer, yes, but really a guy who would much rather be fishing. He relies on his secretary, Julie, to run the business and make sure he keeps his appointments, much to his own chagrin. Not wanting to work all that hard and definitely wanting to have the flexibility to head for a river when the flies hatch, Brady has managed to winnow his client list to a few very wealthy folks who worry about discretion rather than fees. So, for many years, he’s had his dream job. Think of him more like a private detective.

In Hell Bent, Brady’s ex-girlfriend wants him to represent her brother in a painful divorce. Augustine was a well-known photojournalist, happily married with two kids. Then he went to Iraq. When he came back, he was missing a hand and suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. His wife tried to hang in there for a while, but finally couldn’t bear the changes in Augustine and was frustrated by his refusal to adapt to his new challenge and move forward with his photography. Divorce proceedings were initiated. Brady is reluctant, but agrees to a meeting with Augustine. And then, Augustine is found dead in his apartment, an apparent suicide. The police are convinced, but Alex is not and soon enough Brady is not either.

And so it goes. The perfect airplane book – a good read guaranteed. Not once did I sit back and admire a phrase or a paragraph or a scrap of dialog. But characters were developed, the plot kept me turning pages and the dialog was consummate Tapply – clever, smart and snappy when appropriate, but not always, not on every page. And never just with the purpose of being clever. During the reading I struggled to find the truth in the story; I thought about the war in Iraq and the impact it has on everyone; and I felt renewed when justice was done. Yes, I’d say that Bill Tapply was doing his job.

So, if you’ve never read this fine author, I suggest you do it; start at the beginning and work your way through. After all, you have all those months of cold and snow coming. Nothing better than a fire, a hot toddy, at least one cat/dog and an airplane book. Enjoy!

The Brady Coyne books:

Death at Charity’s Point (1984)

The Dutch Blue Error (1985)

Follow the Sharks (1985)

The Marine Corpse (1986)

Dead Meat (1987)

The Vulgar Boatman (1987)

A Void in Hearts (1988)

Dead Winter (1989)

Client Privilege (1989)

The Spotted Cats (1991)

Tight Lines (1992)

The Snake Eater (1993)

The Seventh Enemy (1995)

Close to the Bone (1996)

Cutter’s Run (1998)

Muscle Memory (1999)

Scar Tissue (2000)

Past Tense (2001)

A Fine Line (2002)

Shadow of Death (2003)

Nervous Water (2005)

Out Cold (2006)

One-Way Ticket (2007)

Hell Bent (2008)

Lynn Kaczmarek is the Managing Editor of the national publication, Mystery News. She lives with her husband Mack, their three cats and her books in Egg Harbor.