Diamond Sky

by Ken Douglas and Jack Stewart

From the beginning homicide detective Billy Wolfe knew that Mark Skidmore, head of Sterling-Skidmore Oil, had been killed by professionals. He learns that Skidmore's business partner is California... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0974524697
• ISBN13: 9780974524696
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Bootleg Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Murder, Romance and the Deep Blue Sea

Take two women, a mother and step-daughter, who are just about the same age. Put them on a sailboat they can barely sail. Stick them in the Caribbean. Hide a fortune's worth of smuggled diamonds aboard. Have them running from ruthless Russian smugglers and you have the plot of "Diamond Sky" a terrific woman in trouble thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat as you rush through the story, eager as all get out to get to the end. Beth Shannon is grief stricken when her husband dies of a heart attack in Trinidad, but when she and her step-daughter Noelle take the body back to California, they are met by detective Billy Wolfe, who has more bad news for them. Noelle's mother, uncle and aunt have also been murdered and the detective wants to question them. It seems Noelle's father and uncle had been involved in diamond smuggling with the Russian Mafia and had decided to skim a little off the top. Bad idea. The Russians killed them. The woman go back to Trinidad and when the Russians try to use legal means to get the boat Beth had been living on with her husband, they sail out of the country under cover of darkness with the Russians hot on their trail. And detective Wolfe is on the their trail too. And they don't really know how to handle the boat. Are they in trouble or what? You'll just have to read this delicious and thrilling story to find out who catches up to the women first. But don't worry, you'll have a super time as you read though this fast-paced story.

Adventure in the Caribbean

On a small island of the coast of Trinidad in the Caribbean Beth Shannon is watching her husband Frank snorkel while her step-daughter Noel is busy on the other side of the island discovering a dead body. Mark has a heart attack when he sees the body. Meanwhile, Noel's real mother and her aunt and uncle are murdered five thousand miles away in Long Beach, California. Beth and Noel bring Frank's body back for burial and run into Lt. Billy Wolfe, the homicide cop investigating the local murders. He thinks there is some kind of tie in with his homicides and Frank's heart attack, especially since Noel's uncle was Frank's boss. Wolfe wants to question Beth, but she begs off, then hotfoots it back to the Caribbean. Wolfe follows, only to be framed for murder. Beth is approached by a local attorney who wants to impound the boat she lived on with Frank and she and Noel sail out of Dodge in the middle of the night, however what she doesn't know is that Frank and his brother (you know, Noel's dead uncle) were stealing conflict diamonds from the Russian Mafia and that a lot of those diamonds have been hidden on the boat. The Russians know this and they take off after Beth and Noel. Wolfe barely gets out of Trinidad alive and teams up with a pot smuggler to take off after the diamond smuggles who are chasing the women in distress. I know, it sounds a bit confusing and convoluted, but it's not. This is a very enjoyable read, the characters are well drawn and likable, except, of course, for the bad guys. They certainly are not very likable. A word of caution though, there were a couple squeamish parts, but I read though them, because I was captured by the book. You will be too.

Greed gets people into trouble

This novel carries over some characters from Ken Douglas's earlier novel, "Dead Ringer," including police officers Billy Wolfe, Alvarez, and Norton. Dead bodies are found in an upscale apartment - people brutally tortured and murdered. Then there are additional deaths, and homes are torn apart by someone searching for something. A person connected to the victims dies of a heart attack in Trinidad, and someone is trying to steal his yacht from his widow, Beth. This leads to a chase around the West Indies as Wolfe is drawn into the case. A bunch of black hats get killed along the way, but those are spear carriers. The main villain walks away clean (except he loses what he was looking for). Beth and Wolfe acquire some interesting allies along the way, but they find that they have to be careful who they trust. There are a lot of technical details about sailing mixed in with explicit sex and some amount of violence. Overall it is an interesting story as various details of the case come to light.

A Terrific Thriller, but not what I Expected

A murder in the Caribbean is linked to a triple homicide in California. Two woman are in dangerous trouble when the Russian Mafia thinks they have their stolen diamonds aboard their sailboat. The woman don't really know how to sail the boat, but they set to sea in the middle of the night to avoid the Russian killers, who give chase in a couple sailboats of their own. A California cop leaves his beat and teams up with a drug smuggler to try and save the women. This unlikely duo sets sail after the bad guys, who are chasing the good girls. Without telling anymore of the plot, I'll just go on to say that this was a terrific thriller, but it certainly wasn't what I expected, not after reading TANGERINE DREAM, by the same authors. That book is just about the best book I have ever read, it's so full of sadness, happiness and hope, so I guess I expected the same here. I know, you're going to say I should have read the reviews and comments. Well I did, but still I thought I'd be getting a little romance. Sure there was some smooching, but no real cuddling, if you know what I mean. Ah well, I did enjoy the book, but alas, I'm taking away a star, because I just expected a little more.

Action, Suspense and Tension Galore

Long Beach homicide detective Billy Wolfe has a special relationship with the dead, specifically the murdered. He feels deeply that it is his calling in life to bring their killers to justice. However, he has been on leave for awhile, because of the tragic death of his young son followed by the suicide of his wife. It's his first day back on the job and he's called to the scene of a grisly triple murder. Someone has brutally slaughtered Mark Skidmore, his wife Katherine and his sister-in-law Ann Marie Shannon in the Skidmore's penthouse apartment at the Oceanview Towers. This is hard for Wolfe as he'd been living in the Towers when his son had fallen to his death and his wife had taken her life shortly after. Meanwhile in Trinidad, four thousand miles away, Frank Shannon, Ann Marie's ex, stumbles across the murdered body of his young lover, has a heart attack and dies. Shannon had been working for Skidmore Oil in Trinidad and made his home on a sixty-foot sailboat in the Trinidad Yacht Club with his young wife Beth, who he'd been cheating on. His daughter, Noelle, on break from medical school because of the Christmas holidays, has been visiting. Beth and Noelle have to take the body back to California for burial. Wolfe replays Ann Marie's phone messages and finds out about the women bringing back Shannon's body. Another death in the family, and on the same day. Heart attack or not, Wolfe doesn't believe in coincidences. So now, even though it's miles out of his jurisdiction, he has another possible homicide on his hands. Plus he has to go to the airport to meet Beth and Noelle and tell them about the murder of Noelle's mother, aunt and uncle. And thus begins a thriller that will take you to the Caribbean and back again in a story full of action, suspense and tension galore. I couldn't put it down. I loved Billy Wolfe, so sad and tragic, but very resilient. I liked Beth and Noelle too, but there is a pirate-type, drug-smuggling character called T-Bone that I'll never forget. I actually felt like I was sailing in a raging squall, T-Bone giving me orders as I read along. I loved this book and I think you will too. Karen Holtz, New Jersey Book Girl