This sixth installment in the Sean Stranahan mystery series is a corker. Sean is a private investigator, fly fisherman, and artist, and he's talented at all three. The Montana setting only adds to the enjoyment and mystique of these tales.

This time out, Sean becomes involved in a legend -- the possibly mythical existence and whereabouts of a lost Ernest Hemingway trunk, filled with vintage fishing gear and perhaps unpublished writing, along with the nearly irresistible odor of machismo attached to any Hemingway belonging.

Before the story is all told, there are bodies galore, some directly attributable to murder, and others flirting with the black darkness of Hemingway and suicide. Some characters are obsessed by the trunk's glamour, some are obsessed with its incalculable monetary value, and some because it belonged to Hemingway.

Knitted amongst the threads of investigation is Stranahan's intermittent and unresolved relationship with prickly Sheriff Martha Ettinger. The trail leads from Montana to Wyoming to Michigan to Cuba before all the answers are known. And even the last few pages contain a few surprises.

This novel, like all the previous ones in the series, is a pleasure to read and a rare treat. I received an ARC via Net Galley in return for my honest review.

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