Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Fogland Point
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Burgess, Douglas R. Jr.
BIRTHDATE: 6/17/1977
WEBSITE: burgess@yu.edu
CITY: Brooklyn
STATE: NY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
Phone: 401.368.8560
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born June 17, 1977.
EDUCATION:McGill University, B.A., 1999; Cornell University, J.D., 2002; University of British Columbia, LL.M., 2003; Brown University, M.A., 2004, Ph.D., 2009.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Brown University, Providence, RI, teaching assistant, 2004-06, fellow at John Carter Brown Library; New School for Social Research, New York, NY, Schwartz Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, 2009-10; New York Historical Society, NY, research fellow, 2009-10; Yeshiva University, New York, assistant professor, 2010—.
AWARDS:Senator Lazarus Phillips Prize, 1998, and Chester McNaughten Prize, 1999, both McGill University; CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Cornell University, 2001.
WRITINGS
Also, author of books, including The Politics of Piracy: Crime and Civil Disobedience in Colonial America: 1660-1718, The World for Ransom: Piracy is Terrorism, Terrorism is Piracy, Seize the Trident: The Race for Superliner Supremacy and How It Altered the Great War, The Pirates’ Pact: The Secret Alliances Between History’s Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America, and The Fire Gods: Imagining Empire in the Age of Steam. Contributor of chapters to books, including The Hidden History of Crime, Corruption, and States. Contributor to publications, including Journal of Social History, Journal of British Studies, Journal of International Comparative Law, and American Bar Association National Security Law Report.
SIDELIGHTS
Doug Burgess is a writer and educator. He holds five degrees: a B.A. from McGill University, a J.D. from Cornell University, an LL.M. from the University of British Columbia, and both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Brown University. At the latter, he served as a teaching assistant and a fellow at the John Carter Brown Library. Burgess went on to hold a teaching fellow position at the New School for Social Research before joining Yeshiva University as an assistant professor in 2010. Burgess has contributed articles to academic journals, including the Journal of Social History, Journal of British Studies, Journal of International Comparative Law, and the American Bar Association National Security Law Report. He wrote a chapter of the book, The Hidden History of Crime, Corruption, and States. Under the name Douglas R. Burgess, Jr., he released history books, including The Politics of Piracy: Crime and Civil Disobedience in Colonial America: 1660-1718, The World for Ransom: Piracy is Terrorism, Terrorism is Piracy, Seize the Trident: The Race for Superliner Supremacy and How It Altered the Great War, The Pirates’ Pact: The Secret Alliances Between History’s Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America, and The Fire Gods: Imagining Empire in the Age of Steam.
In 2018, Burgess published his first novel, Fogland Point. It centers on a transgendered history professor from Little Compton, Rhode Island named David Hazard. In this volume, he travels from his home in Boston back to Little Compton to investigate the death of Emma, his grandmother’s neighbor and close friend. The death may connect to historical events that occurred in the town.
In an interview with Mike Barson, contributor to the Crimespree website, Burgess discussed his protagonist, stating: “As far as I know, David is the first trans mystery protagonist—certainly the first I’m aware of. The decision to make him a trans man actually came well into the writing process; originally he was a cis-male gay man, and thus more of an avatar for myself. But during that time I was fortunate enough to be close friends with an FTM man, and his story reflected many of the issues of identity, perception and transformation which were already central to the novel.” Burgess also explained to Barson that his own family history, which had connections to Little Compton, RI, inspired some of the details in the book. He remarked: “I was interested in retelling some of the stories I grew up with, about relatives as recent as the mid-twentieth century and as far back as the 1660’s. In my family oral histories are passed down from one generation to the next; in that sense, I suppose, we are all family historians.”
Fogland Point received favorable assessments. Nancy H. Fontaine, critic in Xpress Reviews, commented: “Readers of complicated mysteries and New England stories will appreciate it, as will readers who just enjoy a good yarn.” A Kirkus Reviews writer suggested: “Readers who can accept the wildly improbable explanation behind the carnival of crime in Little Compton will find Burgess’ debut strongly evocative of a distinctive place, presented in a compelling first-person voice.” “Elegant prose, a veritable Chinese box of puzzles, and authentic, well-rounded characters make this a standout,” asserted a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. Kate Ayers, contributor to the BookReporter.com, remarked: “Fogland Point, Doug Burgess’ impressive debut novel, has a giant heart, made more wonderful with the feeling of small-town charm. But it’s the characters who will pull you in. David Hazard is like no other in literature. … You need to hear his story. Readers can learn a lot from him. Don’t miss this one.” “Events seem to unfold naturally, and the narrative, full of the gossip of independent and stubborn survivors, is a good yarn,” opined Cathy Downs on ReviewingTheEvidence.com.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2018, review of Fogland Point.
Publishers Weekly, June 18, 2018, review of Fogland Point, p. 84.
Xpress Reviews, August 10, 2018, Nancy H. Fontaine, review of Fogland Point.
ONLINE
BookReporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (August 24, 2018), Kate Ayers, review of Fogland Point.
Crimespree, http://crimespreemag.com/ (August 29, 2018), Mike Barson, author interview.
ReviewingTheEvidence.com, http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (August, 2018), Cathy Downs, review of Fogland Point.
Yeshiva University website, https://www.yu.edu/ (October 5, 2018), author faculty profile.
Douglas Burgess
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
EDUCATION:
PhD, Brown University, 2009
MA, Brown University, 2004
LLM, University of British Columbia, 2003
JD, Cornell University, 2002
BA, McGill University, 1999
DOUGLAS BURGESS, PH.D.
51 LINDEN ST, APT.3, BROOKLYN NY 11221
burgess@yu.edu 401.368.8560
ACADEMIC DEGREES
2009 Ph.D. Early American History, Brown University
2004 MA History, Brown University
2003 LLM International Criminal Law, University of British Columbia
2002 J.D. Concentration in Legal History, Cornell University
1999 B.A. First Class Honors History, McGill University
TEACHING & WORK EXPERIENCE
2010-Present Assistant Professor of American History, Yeshiva University
Affiliated Professor of Legal History, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law
2009-2010 Schwartz Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, The New School for Social Research, Eugene Lang College
2009-2010 Research Fellow, New York Historical Society
2006-2007 Fellow, John Carter Brown Library
2004-2006 Teaching Assistant, Brown University
COURSES DESIGNED & TAUGHT
Undergraduate: US History Survey I; Piracy and the Nation State; Legal History; The Atlantic World; Creating the State;
International Crimes (Honors Seminar)
Graduate: History of Western Law, International Criminal Law
BOOKS
The Politics of Piracy: Crime and Civil Disobedience in Colonial America: 1660-1718 (University Press of New England, forthcoming publication 2014).
The Fire gods: Imagining Empire in the Age of Steam (Potomac Press, forthcoming publication 2014).
The Hidden History of Crime, Corruption and States, chapter, ed. Renate Bridenthal (Berghahn Books, 2012)
The World for Ransom: Piracy is Terrorism, Terrorism is Piracy (Prometheus Books, 2010).
The Pirates’ Pact: The Secret Alliances Between History’s Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America
(McGraw-Hill, 2008).
Seize the Trident: The Race for Superliner Supremacy and How It Altered the Great War (McGraw-Hill, 2005).
SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
“The Phantom Fleet of Porto Principe: Piracy and Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Atlantic Colonies, 1666-1698,” draft submitted Spring, 2013.
“A Crisis of Charter and Right: Piracy and Colonial Resistance in Seventeenth-Century Rhode Island,” Journal of Social History, Spring 2012.
“Piracy in the Public Sphere: The Henry Every Trials and the Battle for Meaning in Seventeenth-Century Print Culture,” Journal of British Studies, October 2009.
“Hostis Humani Generi: Piracy, Terrorism and a New International Law,” University of Miami Journal of International and Comparative Law, Summer 2006.
“Piracy Law as a Weapon in the War on Terror,” American Bar Association National Security Law Report, June 2005.
AWARDS, HONORS & FELLOWSHIPS
2009 Bernard & Irene Schwartz Postdoctoral Fellowship, New York Historical Society and The New School, Eugene Lang College.
2007 Lax Fellowship, Brown University Department of History, excellence in history.
2006-2007 J.M. Stuart Fellowship, John Carter Brown Library, research and graduate funding.
2006 Research Fellowship, Gilder Lehrman Society, archival research.
2005 Full traveling fellowship, Brown University, overseas doctoral research.
2003-2008 Full fellowship for graduate study, Brown University.
2001 CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Cornell University.
1999 Chester McNaughten Prize, McGill University, creative writing.
1998 Senator Lazarus Phillips Prize, McGill University, history.
1996-1999 Dean’s Honor List, McGill University.
CONFERENCES & LECTURES
Paper, “Breaking the Bonds: Piracy and Colonial Resistance in Seventeenth-Century Rhode Island,” U.S. Naval Academy Naval History Symposium, September 2013.
Paper, “Hostis Humani Generi: Piracy as a Legal and Historical Precedent for International Terrorism,” Conference Terrorism & International Politics: Past, Present and Future, The Graduate Institute I, Geneva, September 28, 2011.
Paper, “Leisler’s Gambit: Competing Legalities in Colonial New York,” New York Historical Society, June 2010.
“200 Years After Trafalgar: An Examination of Comparative Naval Tactics,” Army-Navy Club of Washington D.C. October 21, 2005.
RELATED MEDIA
“Paul Revere’s Last Stand: Why History Matters,” Huffington Post,
“Are Terrorists Beyond the Law?” Huffington Post, May 10, 2011.
“Piracy is Terrorism,” New York Times Op-Ed, December 5, 2008.
“The Dread Pirate Bin Laden: How thinking of terrorists as pirates can help win the war on terror,”
Legal Affairs, July/August 2005.
QUOTED: ": As far as I know, David is the first trans mystery protagonist—certainly the first I’m aware of. The decision to make him a trans man actually came well into the writing process; originally he was a cis-male gay man, and thus more of an avatar for myself. But during that time I was fortunate enough to be close friends with an FTM man, and his story reflected many of the issues of identity, perception and transformation which were already central to the novel."
"I was interested in retelling some of the stories I grew up with, about relatives as recent as the mid-twentieth century and as far back as the 1660’s. In my family oral histories are passed down from one generation to the next; in that sense, I suppose, we are all family historians."
INTERVIEW WITH DOUG BURGESS
POSTED BY MIKE BARSON ON AUG 29, 2018 IN FEATURES, INTERVIEWS
MIKE BARSON: FOGLAND POINT is your first novel. How long did it take you from the point where you decided to write it to when you finished and submitted it to the publisher?
DOUG BURGESS: In college I wrote a short story called “Miss Emma’s Young Man” that told of an elderly New England spinster who wrote letters to herself, pretending they were from a lost love. It won an award from the university and made me think I might try my hand at fiction one day. That story became the basis for another, “Laughing Sarahs,” which appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2011. Now the tale included Grandma Maggie, her friends, and Emma’s murder. That led me to expand the story a third and final time, introducing Marcus Rhinegold and David Hazard himself (previously the narrator was unidentified) which became FOGLAND POINT From 1998 to 2018…I never really thought about it before, but the evolution of FOGLAND POINT is also my evolution as a writer.
MIKE BARSON: There are numerous gay characters in crime fiction, but does Fogland Point offer the first trans protagonist? What decided you to cast your hero, David Hazard, in that role?
DOUG BURGESS: As far as I know, David is the first trans mystery protagonist—certainly the first I’m aware of. The decision to make him a trans man actually came well into the writing process; originally he was a cis-male gay man, and thus more of an avatar for myself. But during that time I was fortunate enough to be close friends with an FTM man, and his story reflected many of the issues of identity, perception and transformation which were already central to the novel. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received as a writer was someone who told me that if your character is essentially unchanged at the end of a novel, why should anyone bother reading about them? I think this is a flaw with many mystery novels, especially of the old school: supporting characters may experience change, but the “detective” is a fixed point. Sometimes they don’t even age! I wanted David’s narrative arc to be as central to the story as the mystery itself—in fact, in some ways, the “reveal” to the reader about his gender identity is part of that mystery.
MIKE BARSON: Your family dates back to the Little Compton, Rhode Island area some 350 years–all the way back to the 1600s. How much of a family historian were you prior to writing this novel? And was there one revelation you unearthed about your ancestors that blew your mind?
DOUG BURGESS: One nice thing about old New England families is that we don’t really need family historians—it’s all pretty much recorded. I grew up keenly aware of my family background because it was everywhere around me: even my school was named after a relative. So I didn’t need to do much genealogical work. Instead I was interested in retelling some of the stories I grew up with, about relatives as recent as the mid-20th century and as far back as the 1660’s. In my family oral histories are passed down from one generation to the next; in that sense, I suppose, we are all family historians.
And yes, there is one moment that stands out. I remember when I was about six years old my father brought us to Boston and took me to the steps of the Massachusetts State House, where a seated figure cast in bronze rests in a shady spot near the corner of the building. That was my many-times-great-grandmother Mary Dyer, who was hanged for her Quaker beliefs in 1660. As a practicing Quaker myself, I have often revisited that statue for inspiration. As a rather odd aside, her life and death were recently depicted in, of all things, “Drunk History,” where she was acted by Winona Rider (!).
MIKE BARSON: The romance that develops between David Hazard and police chief Billy Dyer is unexpected initially, but quite intriguing. Do you have plans for a second crime novel that would maintain the focus on David and Billy?
DOUG BURGESS: Yes absolutely. Fogland Point ends with them at the beginning of a relationship that clearly will take a great deal of negotiating and exploring as time goes on. In a sense both David and Billy are trying to find a path through an obstacle course of identities and labels. Are they a “gay” couple? Does attraction to David materially alter Billy’s sexuality? These questions might not be very important to David, who has already had years to adjust to them, but they are very new for Billy. So yes, there will be difficulties.
One early reader commented that it was almost impossible to find any new ground for a love story, but this found it. I wish I could take credit: the inspiration actually came from a close friend in law school. He was a gay man in a stable relationship when his partner came out to him as trans-female. They remained together throughout her transition and still are going strong today. What fascinated me was that something which to them seemed perfectly normal nevertheless invited scores of questions from outsiders: if his partner was now female, would he still be attracted to her? Was he now “straight”? We as humans love to create boxes and put ourselves and each other into them. But emotion and attraction don’t always work that way.
MIKE BARSON: Who were some of your chief influences in the mystery field when you were growing up? And are there any contemporary authors whose work you particularly admire?
DOUG BURGESS:I can still remember my grandfather reading Murder on the Orient Express to me when I was about six—which seems a bit young now, but I had macabre tastes. A perennial ritual with each visit to their house was a trip to the local bookstore for another Agatha Christie paperback, the kind with neo-gothic lettering and an odd collection of objects on the cover. I think I might even have gone as Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov version) one Halloween.
In high school my tastes matured enough to include Emma Lathen, John Mortimer (who might or might not have been responsible for my decision to go to law school) and Dorothy Sayers…I still read Busman’s Honeymoon at least once a year. I wrote my first mystery novel as senior project. It was set in Bermuda, where my family had a business, and it was awful. The characters were lifted bodily from a 1930’s period piece and the mystery hinged on, if I remember rightly, a firecracker stuck into a cigarette.
Then in college I found a spare copy of Dead Water by Ngaio Marsh, and my mind was officially blown. She may be the only author I’ve ever read whose voice consistently improved as she aged. Her early stuff is almost unreadable, pseudo-Sayers with the same stock characters of the annoying press hound, aristocratic mummy, etc. But around the time of Surfeit of Lampreys everything changed. For the first time I found myself caring more about the characters than the mystery. Of contemporary authors my absolute favorite is Steven Saylor. I discovered his “Roma Sub Rosa” series when I was living in Austin and still look forward to new installments today. I love the way he very subtly and delicately weaves issues of sexuality into his novels—few of his characters are wholly “straight” or “gay,” which is quite consistent with the era of which he writes.
MIKE BARSON:As a professor of history at Yeshiva in New York City, researching the Rhode Island backdrop of the book must have been second nature. How and where did you primarily conduct your research?
DOUG BURGESS: Much of it was already done through my doctoral dissertation, which examined colonial piracy. The story of the Robie family, aristocratic Southerners trapped in Newport during the Civil War, came from a visit to Kingscote Mansion in Newport, where I learned that before the Vanderbilts and their ilk colonized it, Newport had been a favorite retreat of antebellum Southern gentry. Then after the war they lost everything, and those same houses were picked up on the cheap by New York merchants.
I also made a great many visits to Little Compton, keeping a journal of all the places so that I could convey them more accurately. The rest, I suppose, was just “lived history”: my own memories, stories my family told me, places I recalled.
QUOTED: "Readers of complicated mysteries and New England stories will appreciate it, as will readers who just enjoy a good yarn."
Burgess, Doug. Fogland Point
Nancy H. Fontaine
Xpress Reviews. (Aug. 10, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
Burgess, Doug. Fogland Point. Poisoned Pen. Aug. 2018. 288p. ISBN 9781464210228. $26.95. MYS
[DEBUT NOVEL] After receiving a disturbing call from his increasingly senile grandma, Maggie, David Hazard returns home to Little Compton, RI. Usually Maggie's best friend and next-door neighbor Emma cares for her, but David finds Emma dead, hit on the head with a frying pan. The Providence police think it's an accident, but local police chief Billy Dyer disagrees. Wealthy newcomer Marcus Rhinegold surprises the mourners by attending Emma's funeral and soon has the whole town looking for him when his yacht disappears on the foggy ocean. David and Billy, who dated when David was known as Rosalie, work together to solve the mystery of Emma's death. The yacht hunt turns into a murder investigation twice over, revealing a mob connection and local complexities fitting a town more than 350 years old.
VERDICT Nonfiction author Burgess's (Engines of Empire: Steamships and the Victorian Imagination) debut novel is an entertaining kaleidoscope of a mystery, replete with New England maritime history, a love story, ghosts, and humor. Although some suspension of disbelief is required, readers of complicated mysteries and New England stories will appreciate it, as will readers who just enjoy a good yarn.-Nancy H. Fontaine, Norwich P.L., VT
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Fontaine, Nancy H. "Burgess, Doug. Fogland Point." Xpress Reviews, 10 Aug. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A551168174/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c560b3a6. Accessed 30 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A551168174
QUOTED: "Readers who can accept the wildly improbable explanation behind the carnival of crime in Little Compton will find Burgess' debut strongly evocative of a distinctive place, presented in a compelling first-person voice."
9/30/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Print Marked Items
Burgess, Doug: FOGLAND POINT
Kirkus Reviews.
(June 1, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Burgess, Doug FOGLAND POINT Poisoned Pen (Adult Fiction) $26.95 8, 7 ISBN: 978-1-4642-1022-8
When his Rhode Island Catholic college realizes he's transgender, a history professor gets fired from his job
just in time to respond to the grandmother who cried wolf once too often.
Maggie Hazard's phoned her grandson so many times to report imagined emergencies that he lets her latest
call go to voicemail. This time the message turns out to be about her discovery of a bloody corpse in the
kitchen. After he finally listens to it, David Hazard, who's just been let go because a required medical form
revealed his birth name as Rosalie, packs his overnight kit and heads for Little Compton, the end-of-the-line
spit of New England shoreline where his widowed grandmother lives with encroaching dementia. She
shows no more signs of wear and tear than usual, but Emma Godfrey, the next-door neighbor who lavished
her with care, has been killed by a collision with a frying pan. It looks like an accident caused by the
collapse of a shelf full of cookware in Emma's kitchen, but it's actually murder, announces Sheriff Billy
Dyer. David's complicated relationship with Billy, who dated and proposed to him before he transitioned,
guarantees some initial awkwardness, but soon the two are working together to figure out who killed
Emma--and what happened to local celebrity Marcus Rhinegold, who disappeared aboard his yacht shortly
after propositioning David and inadvertently revealing that he and his wife, Alicia, nee Crystal Gronkowski,
were hiding from the murderous Molinari gang. Even though you'd think that nothing ever happens in Little
Compton, David observes tellingly that "The secret to village life is concealment," and pretty much every
single member of the cast turns out to be hiding some remarkably dirty laundry.
Readers who can accept the wildly improbable explanation behind the carnival of crime in Little Compton
will find Burgess' debut strongly evocative of a distinctive place, presented in a compelling first-person
voice that manages to be beyond illusions but never cynical.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Burgess, Doug: FOGLAND POINT." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540723367/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=993cf8a2.
Accessed 30 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A540723367
QUOTED: "Elegant prose, a veritable Chinese box of puzzles, and authentic, well-rounded characters make this a standout."
9/30/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1538349362949 2/2
Fogland Point
Publishers Weekly.
265.25 (June 18, 2018): p84.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Fogland Point
Doug Burgess. Poisoned Pen, $26.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-4642-1022-8; $15.95 trade paper (304p) ISBN
978-1-4642-1024-2
According to history professor David Hazard, the sly narrator of Burgess's masterly first novel, nothing ever
happens in Little Compton, R.I., his hometown, but he's soon proved wrong after he sets out from Boston
on receiving a garbled phone message from his Grandma Maggie claiming that she found a body. David
doubts there's been a murder, but he fears that Maggie's dementia is worsening. As he puts it, "in Maggie
Hazard's cockeyed world it could be high noon or three a.m., yesterday or 1957. Walking through the front
door is like coming upon a play mid-scene." When David arrives in Little Compton, he discovers Maggie's
best friend and next-door neighbor, Emma, is indeed lying dead on her kitchen floor. Was Emma murdered?
Was Grandma remembering another incident? And who is wealthy Marcus Rhinegold, whose sudden
appearance in town has started tongues wagging? In his search for answers, David stumbles on more family
secrets than he could ever have imagined. Elegant prose, a veritable Chinese box of puzzles, and authentic,
well-rounded characters make this a standout. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Fogland Point." Publishers Weekly, 18 June 2018, p. 84. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A544712411/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d0c886e7.
Accessed 30 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A544712411
QUOTED: "Fogland Point, Doug Burgess’ impressive debut novel, has a giant heart, made more wonderful with the feeling of small-town charm. But it’s the characters who will pull you in. David Hazard is like no other in literature. ... You need to hear his story. Readers can learn a lot from him. Don’t miss this one."
Armstrong House sits on Fogland Point, overlooking Narragansett Bay. It’s the spooky old place that David Hazard remembers as the scariest spot to hang around on Halloween. The mansion has fallen into disrepair now, but David still thinks of it as super creepy. He grew up in Little Compton, a small town where nothing happens. We can’t always choose where we live in our childhood years, but we sure can when we’re old enough. So David chose to leave as soon as he could. Not all of his memories from that time are good ones.
Now, reluctantly, he’s come back after receiving a frantic call from his grandmother. Truthfully, sometimes he ignores those calls, because Grandma Maggie is descending into dementia and makes up some whoppers nowadays. If he does answer, usually he can talk her down. But this time, he heads out in a panic late at night and arrives to find her dithering around her house. Exasperated, he finally coaxes something close to the real story out of her, discovering that the problem did not lie with his grandmother but with her neighbor. Poor Emma. She will be missed.
"FOGLAND POINT, Doug Burgess’ impressive debut novel, has a giant heart, made more wonderful with the feeling of small-town charm. But it’s the characters who will pull you in."
At the funeral, David and his aunts, who still live in Little Compton, notice an unfamiliar couple attending the service. It’s easy to spot individuals who don’t belong, being a small town and all. Rumor has it that this pair has purchased the Armstrong House and Fogland Point. Really? Are they planning to settle in here? People in places the size of Little Compton like to know what’s going on around them, and new folks buying a historic property gets the gossip going. Also, when one of their own dies at the same time these newcomers arrive, suspicions naturally rise. No connection has been made, but there hasn’t been an in-depth investigation yet.
David’s old school friend, Billy Dyer, now Chief of Police, warily welcomes David back. Their friendship went through some rough times, and David’s return might test its resilience. For now, though, the police chief teams up with his old friend to do a little snooping. They discover that the strange new couple is harboring more than one secret. In fact, “Marcus” and “Alicia” probably aren’t even their real names. They appear to be married but don’t seem to like each other. They also seem to be rich, having sailed into Little Compton on a fancy yacht, but then again who knows? Something is definitely off about them. David and Billy --- and probably the aunts, too --- will do a lot more digging into their background and keep an eye on them. It wouldn’t do to let their guards down.
Then, on a busy evening, in the local gathering spot, one of the aunts blurts out the old story of long-lost sunken treasure and, well, the town goes crazy. Everyone wants to be rich, and there’s gold right here in their bay? Meanwhile, the yacht has disappeared. And so has “Marcus.” Alicia, though, unhappily remains. What is going on? Did that man pilfer their treasure and skip? Whether it’s a hunt for the gold or something more sinister, death follows. An uproar ensues. Chief Dyer has never had to handle crimes of this magnitude. Murder? Multiple murders? There’s even mention of some mafia guys. What has happened to their sleepy town? Where once David complained that nothing goes on in Little Compton, he now wishes for the return of those days.
FOGLAND POINT, Doug Burgess’ impressive debut novel, has a giant heart, made more wonderful with the feeling of small-town charm. But it’s the characters who will pull you in. David Hazard is like no other in literature. He has been through a lot and has no easy life ahead of him. His attitude, though, is ever optimistic. You need to hear his story. Readers can learn a lot from him. Don’t miss this one.
Reviewed by Kate Ayers on August 24, 2018
QUOTED: "Events seem to unfold naturally, and the narrative, full of the gossip of independent and stubborn survivors, is a good yarn."
Since David Hazard was fired from his position as a historian at a university, it seems natural that he would pump his grandmother, Maggie Hazard, and her circle of friends for their life stories in the Narragansett Bay town of Little Compton. Those of us who (callously) label old women old "biddies" or "town gossips" are in for a bit of a surprise when David and the police chief begin looking into the murder of Maggie's best friend and next-door neighbor.
Dramatis personae: David Hazard, the first-person narrator, who has been fired from his position as a history professor because of a secret he had kept from the university administration; his grandmother, Maggie Hazard, with whom David lives since his mother's death, and who was a book-keeper for a wrecking company until her Alzheimer's disease progressed; Maggie's next-door neighbor, her best friend Emma (whose degree was in oceanography), whom we first meet in an unfortunate state of having been done in; her paramour Teddy Johnson, who sailed away to war and never came back; Aunt Constance Heckman, a tough businesswoman who owns the wrecking company that once employed Maggie, and who knows the town's secrets; Irene Belcourt, the scout for the wreckers; Pastor Paige, who is sententious beyond measure; Billy Dyer, the police chief, who has a history with David; Marcus and Alicia Rhinegold, dripping in money, who arrive on their yacht Calliope, take up residence in the crumbling Armstrong mansion, and set off a string of fatal events; Cap'n Barrow, a ghost who sits in the wingback chair from time to time; the Hired Help, one or more kitchen poltergeists; the Molinaris, shadowy drug lords in Texas; fishermen and –women; neighborhood gossips; barflies.
David, newly fired from his assistant professorship at a nearby university, is newly able to come to his grandmother's rescue when she telephones him with an incoherent message. Incoherence is not a new problem, since his grandmother is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer's disease, but her ramblings seem to indicate that a man has died. When David arrives at Little Compton, his grandmother's hometown and where he grew up, he finds that Emma, his grandmother's best friend and caregiver, has been bludgeoned to death in her kitchen.
David decides to spend some months with his grandmother, since she requires care, and, to entertain her and her two old friends and co-workers, Irene and Constance, he begins recording their histories. Since David's family as well as Irene's and Constance's families go back for many generations in Little Compton, the number of skeletons and the number of closets are plentiful enough to keep the reader very interested in what happened to whom.
At Emma's funeral, besides the sententious preacher, the town elders who attend all funerals, and those whose friendship calls them to come, an obviously wealthy couple who clearly do not belong show up. They are the owners of an impossibly well-turned out yacht that is docked at the town's most well-known and most decrepit historic mansion. When they invite David to visit, he cannot help but go, opening the old door, passing the covered and dusty furnishings, and climbing the creaky staircase with a man he scarcely knows in imitation of every gothic fiction we have read. In the wake of this visit, which David does survive, David's friendship with the police chief helps him discover that wealthy and mysterious Marcus and Alicia Rhinegold are not who they say they are. Is it their possible connection to a drug cartel in Texas that could have anything to do with Emma's death?
Events seem to unfold naturally, and the narrative, full of the gossip of independent and stubborn survivors, is a good yarn. The author, Doug Burgess, may wish to double-check facts, however: manure is not the fertilizer that explodes. It's ammonium nitrate. And in El Paso, Texas, Italian Mafiosi would never be allowed to set up shop. One of the Mexican cartels would vaporize them. In a subsequent edition, perhaps Molinari might be better changed to Martinez.
§ Dr. Cathy Downs is Professor of English at Texas A&M University-Kingsville and a fan of the well-fashioned whodunit.
Reviewed by Cathy Downs, August 2018