From Publishers Weekly
Hammond now adds an angling tale to his gun-lore mysteries (starring gunsmith Keith Calder) and his spaniel-training adventures (featuring retired soldier John Cunningham). Like those novels, this is a brief, plot-driven affair, heavy on information, wafer-thin on characterization. Calder's business partner, Wallace James, takes gregarious and inept fisherman Eric Bell on an angling trip in the Scottish Highlands (and, in the first five pages alone, gives him more fly-fishing tips than Norman Maclean put in his entire A River Runs Through It). The body of one Bernard Hollister is soon found in the river. His death looks like an accident, until James notes that the lure embedded in his cheek is the wrong kind of lure for that river at that time and particular depth. It turns out that the deceased had business links to the Middle East, and had been spotted recently in a brawl with a local Arab. James solves the case, but along the way he proves to be a dull and insufferably smug soul. Hammond's best books are enlivened by a host of plucky dogs; his worst, like this, offer only a catch of dead, cold fish.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Hammond's latest will hold the most appeal for mystery fans who also happen to be fishing fanatics, since the story is chock-full of angling talk, tips, and techniques. Set in the Scottish Highlands, it features master fisherman Wallace James, who's on a fishing trip when he and his buddy find--submerged in the river--the body of a man with a fish hook in his face. The last thing Wallace wants is to interrupt his fishing trip, but when suspicious circumstances lead the local constabulary to conclude that the mystery man was murdered, Wallace is "lured" into a case that leads him and his newfound policeman pal, Tony McIver, on a challenging quest to solve the puzzling murder. Despite the heavy emphasis on fishing, the story is nicely paced with an inventive plot, stolid but engaging characters, and an appealing glimpse of Scottish village life. While it may not appeal to all whodunit fans, it's vintage Hammond and belongs in larger mystery collections.
Emily Melton
