1989 mystery, eighteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry
Tibbett. The government of the Caribbean island of Tampica seems to
have been taken over by drug smugglers; but what can Tibbett do to
stop them?
Well, it's the recipe as before… but it seems very obviously
the recipe as before. Once more (white) Tibbett has to come in and
sort out the (black) locals' problems. (Indeed, a frightened witness
chooses, on very little evidence, to regard him as a better obeah
than the local one he's scared of.) Once more everyone seems
untrustworthy. Emmy gets kidnapped (twice), and shows significant
gumption in getting herself out of it.
And once more Drugs Are Bad, with a cocaine addict between doses
willing to do anything for their next fix. Yes, well.
It all feels a bit sketched in at times, and even though there is a
sequence of heroic sailing by Emmy it's very much the stand-out good
part of the book; the characters, who are usually Moyes' strength,
feel like stereotypes. Moyes was 66 when this book came out and would
only write one more novel after it; I've been banging her drum as one
of the neglected queens of English mystery fiction, but sadly I can't
hold up this one as an example.
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