The Way of The Tamarisk

Gillian St. Just, vacationing with her handsome new friend Jamie Craven on a yacht off the coast of Sicily, soon realized she had become involved in a dangerous Mafia kidnapping plot which threatened to implicate herself as well as her fellow passengers. The idea of touring southern Italy on a yacht, the Petrel, in the fascinating company of the young man she was just starting to get to know was an intriguing one, but even before the boat set sail, Gill discovered there were things about Jamie she ought to have learned on dry land. A bombing, a prowling stranger, an erroneous passport and a wrecked ship, the Tamarisk, still haunted by the ghosts of a young couple who had gone down with it, are all keys to Gillian's mystery. She herself has a secret which she has vowed to keep from Jamie and the others on board, and it is not until the Mafia vendetta involving the Tamarisk's dead skipper turns on her that she is forced to rely on the strange young man whom she calls Jamie Craven. By the time Gill has connected the pieces of the puzzle, it is almost too late to halt the frightening sequence of events about to befall her. The kidnapping plot she has promised to implement nearly costs her her life, and the ghosts of the Tamarisk seem to hover expectantly as Gill carries out the errand she is determined to complete. Her fear of the Sicilian vendetta drives her on, and the surprising climax of this compelling mystery is a tribute to the plucky and indomitable heroine's intelligence and bravery. THE WAY OF THE TAMARISK is an unforgettable thriller.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Romance. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.