Review by Beth Slater, Gumshoe

We return to the mysteries and secrets of North Florida in the seventh Luanne Fogarty mystery where our favorite linguistics professor and adjunct police scuba diver has found a dialect individual to an island near her home. Moon Island is just a hop, skip, and boat ride away from Luanne's cabin deep in the swamp area, but even she is surprised to find the ghostly sprite on her doorstep asking to hire her scuba services to find a body. Ten year old Sissy Moon, sent by her great-grandmother, brings Luanne and Pasquin, Luanne's elderly swamp rat neighbor, to her family's island to look for the body of her great-grandfather in the spring-fed lake out beyond their house on Moon Island. Luanne, unbeknownst to Sissy, has fed this information to the local police who have agreed to meet them at the property – which is when it is discovered that this disappearance happened almost fifty years ago!

Completely perplexed, Luanne retreats and lets the police conduct their investigation into the sudden claim of the missing person and decide how to handle the issue despite the timeline, but she cannot help but wonder why search after all these years? Sissy's father appears completely uncomfortable with the police presence but is unable to refuse them access after the report was made, so he lets the police go about their business.

But when Sissy shows back up at Luanne's, alone and at night, Luanne feels obligated to see to the child's safety on the river. Accompanying her back to her house, Luanne and Pasquin (again) find that there are boarders on Moon Island who are stranger than the natives, despite Sissy's claim that she, as well as her great-grandmother, can now suddenly hear the ghost of her ancestor whispering and sighing from the lake. Or can they? The swamps can do strange things to a person, even when that's all they've ever known…

I think that this series should have a genre all its own – because I don't know where it fits in. It could be a cozy because of the lack of true violence involved, but Luanne technically isn't an amateur. There is procedure in it, but that isn't the foremost part of the story – not even close! What drives this series is the love of the area – the descriptiveness and imagery that is brought to life when reading about the river or the inhabitants – it creates murals in the readers' minds that allow them access to the characters' world unlike most other mysteries I've ever read.

The character development at this point in the series is well-set – and with the introduction of two vivacious people I hope to see more of there is room for growth; although I hope that growth does not include the loss of any beloved friends in the future, as has been known to happen in other series. So until next time, sit back, grab some sweet tea, and dream of Mama's Table.