Author: James Polkinghorn,

Publisher: OceanviewPublishing

ISBN: 978-1-60809-550-6

James Polkinghorn, author of Liquid Shades of Blue, has resided in the Miami- Fort Lauderdale, Florida area for nearly forty years. Polkinghorn is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native. He is a graduate of the University of Florida for both undergrad and his law degree. Polkinghorn is almost retired from trail law and lives in Key West with his wife and dog. This is his first novel. 

Interestingly enough the main character of Liquid Shades of Blue is also a Miamian who was a playboy lawyer that decided to give it all up and move to Key West. His name is Jack Girard. He comes from money so he never worries about the cost of things including people which can make him appear a little smug. Jack bought a bar from two guys, Billy and Bob, and named the same. He runs it along with his small staff of able bartenders. The name is now Jacks Hideaway and Tracy acts as his bar manager in his absence. He is happy in this island paradise perhaps for the first time in his adult life. 

Jack has gone home with a lovely Russian call girl named Anna Markova who showed him a very good time. They both drank too much the night before and are hungover this morning when Jack’s phone rings. He picks it up to learn from his father that his mother is dead. Jack cannot concentrate. Something about how enthralling Anna is leaves him wanting more but now is obviously not the time. With his head throbbing he ushers the rather splendid Anna out the door and heads for the shower. When he is out of the shower he packs a small bag and tells his bar manager that he will be in Miami for a few days.

Jack’s dad “the Duke” is also an attorney of some renown. His formal name is Claude Duke Garard. The Duke is a snappy dresser and a smooth talker in and out of the courtroom. He is a force to be reckoned with in the world of medical malpractice. Men and women are drawn to him and tend to listen raptly to every word he utters. Jack may be the exception to that rule. 

Jack does not relish going back to the City to meet with “the Duke” nor to find out what happened to his mother. However, both are unavoidable. 

The Duke resides in posh Coral Gables, a suburb of greater Miami that winds around Biscayne Bay. Jack’s mother, Betty Donovan, was a wealthy avant-garde debutante when she met and fell in love with the Duke at the University of Miami. Her station in life had afforded the Duke every enter into the social circle of the rich and famous. She had grown up going to private schools and playing tennis at the Riviera Country Club and yachting from the Coral Reef Yacht Club. Betty loved art and literature. She dabbled in drugs and alcohol which ended up getting her ousted from high school and wrecked her chances of getting into the ivy league schools her parents hoped she would. 

Jack was not an only child. He had a brother named Bobby. Bobby was a bit older than Jack and he had a secret. Keeping that secret was not easy and he supposedly committed suicide because he felt it would cost him too much in life. Jack always blamed himself for his brothers untimely death, which was not at all the case. 

Despite the success that Jack’s father had had his family had a dark and troubling past. Will Jack learn how his mother died? Will he make peace with how his brother died? Life can be so complicated even to those with no financial woes. 

I really enjoyed this book because I lived in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Key West. All of this familiarity with the cities and places just made me dive in and read it in about a day. If you like page turners this is a book for you!