The Whaleboat House
The Whaleboat House (originally published with the title Amagansett[1]) is a 2004 crime novel by British writer Mark Mills. It is set shortly after the Second World War with the events taking place in and around the small Long Island fishing village of Amagansett.
 First edition (with original name) | |
| Author | Mark Mills |
|---|---|
| Original title | Amagansett |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Fourth Estate |
Publication date | 2004-06-07 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 268 |
| ISBN | 0-00-716190-5 |
| OCLC | 54424914 |
| Followed by | The Savage Garden |
The novel was originally published under the name Amagansett when it first appeared in 2004.[2] However, when it was later published in paperback, the publishers, HarperCollins, changed the name to The Whaleboat House after deciding that the original title was too elliptical.[3]
Plot summary
Little has changed in Amagansett since the first settlers arrived there some 300 years earlier, but the discovery of the body of Lillian Wallace, a New York socialite, by a local fisherman named Conrad Labarde, shatters the apparent stability and threatens to tear the close-knit community apart.
Labarde (a second generation French Basque recently returned from the war in Europe), and Tom Hollis (a recently divorced former New York police detective posted to the area after his attempt to expose corruption resulted in the death of a colleague), are drawn to investigate Lillian's death, even though it appears to have been a tragic accident. They both have their own separate reasons to suspect that there is more to the death than meets the eye, and that it may have been the result of foul play.
Awards
The novel won the Crime Writers' Association Award for Best Crime Novel by a Debut Author.
References
- The Whaleboat House by author Mark Mills Archived 2015-09-09 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2015-09-09.
- Sanderson, Mark (8 February 2005). "Literary life: Mark Sanderson peers into the world of books". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- "Audio books". Times Online. 22 January 2005. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
External links
- Larsen, David (24 July 2004). "Mark Mills: Amagansett". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
- Clavin, Tom (3 October 2004). "Murder Calls on the East End". New York Times. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
- Bos, Monique (18 November 2005). "Novel offers satisfying whodunit". The Chronicle. Retrieved 27 August 2009.