Thickafog

An Archer Island Mystery

by Caleb Mason

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Pub Date 4 Mar 2025 | Archive Date 17 Jan 2025

Publerati | BookBaby

General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

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Description

Crime and Punishment meets Demon Copperhead in this psychological mystery set on a remote Maine island, from the glorious days of summer to the harsh storms of winter.

Thickafog draws upon the best elements of the mystery and the psychological novel in presenting a spellbinding story set on a remote Maine island with many colorful characters.

Narrator Jon Davis becomes the lead suspect in the murder of his father Bobby, who is found dead at the bottom of a cliff near Jon's house. Bobby had moved in with his son nine months ago, after getting kicked out of assisted living in Florida, apparently for making unwelcome advances to a wealthy lady.

Jon, a carpenter, is battling alcoholism and is a loner whose life becomes complicated when his smooth father pursues Ingrid Backlund, the "Island Queen," who suffers from early onset dementia. Ingrid's drug dealer son Kevin distrusts this newcomer "from away" and blames Jon for bringing Bobby into the community, fearing his father is angling for his inheritance. Jon struggles to understand and reconcile with his father, as their time together reopens emotional wounds.

The island itself becomes a character, with multi-generational lobstermen and newly arrived summer people living together, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes uneasily, in a place as harsh in winter as it is glorious in summer.

Exploring themes of fate and self-determination, Thickafog takes readers on a wild ride that lingers long after the last page is turned and the fog finally lifts.

Inspired by the beauty of Vinalhaven island and the people who live there.

A Note From the Publisher

eBook: 9798986617855

Advance Praise

“Thickafog is insightful and beautifully written. There were so many things I liked about the novel, including the description of the island and how up-to-date the author is about all sorts of things.”

-- Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

“Thickafog is as much a psychological novel as a mystery, and so much of narrator Jon’s voice sings. Caleb Mason has skillfully created a believable world, a sense of place, with characters who are fully dimensional, as well as a suspenseful plot well-orchestrated.”

-- Joyce Kornblatt, author of The Reason for Wings and Mother Tongue

"Thickafog reveals the humanity of its characters, with all their failures and triumphs, hatreds and redeeming love, and above all the ways a community can test and nurture and connect us to each other.”

-- Wayne Karlin, author of eight novels including A Wolf by the Ears and Marble Mountain

“Crime and Punishment meets Demon Copperhead in this fast-paced philosophical novel that had me guessing until the final pages. Is the narrator reliable? Is he truly capable of patricide? And, if so, does the father have it coming? The author’s inventive use of first-person narration with omniscient point of view added to the overall mystery.”

-- Anna Blauveldt, author of The Leavetaking and Awakening

“Thickafog is insightful and beautifully written. There were so many things I liked about the novel, including the description of the island and how up-to-date the author is about all sorts of...