‘Whiskey Gulf’ a maritime mystery

  Clyde Ford’s third nautical mystery featuring maritime investigator Charlie Noble is not always smooth sailing.
  “Whiskey Gulf” takes the reader on a journey to the Inside Passage, the Pacific Northwest waterway between the British Columbia-Alaskan coast and a series of islands. The novel takes concentration to keep up with the twists and turns in the plot.
  Noble is asked by members of an exclusive yacht club to discover the fate of a couple who mysteriously disappeared while sailing inside the waterway. He discovers their yacht was destroyed during a joint Canadian-U.S. naval exercise in which state-of-the-art torpedoes were deployed. Noble is stonewalled by authorities from the U.S. and Canada when he tries to find out more.
  Noble believes his job is done until a Coast Guard intelligence officer tells him the couple’s disappearance is linked to a terrorism plot. The official wants him to sail into dangerous waters to help rescue the couple, and informs Noble that a Middle Eastern agent is on their trail. Noble met the suspected hit man during a mission to Bahrain years earlier.
  Charlie wisely takes Raven, an enigmatic Indian who is an excellent sailor and knows the lore of the region, with him on his voyage north. They survive attacks, a whirlpool that nearly sucks in Noble’s boat, and other perils before unraveling the mystery.
  The book works on several levels. Ford’s mastery of language and surprises in the plot make this a fascinating mystery, even for those who don’t have a nautical background.