"Chasin' The Wind"
By Michael Haskins
Five Star, March 2008, $25.95
Reviewed by Jackie Houchin

Set in steamy and exotic Key West, Florida, "Chasin' the Wind" is a chilling, well-plotted mystery about injustice, revenge and bucking the system.

When journalist "Mad Mick" Murphy discovers a buddy brutally beaten and barely hanging on to life, he's able to get only one word from the man's swollen lips before he dies - Gusanos - Havana slang for the hard-core Cuban exiles in Miami.

The local cops think it's about the Key West to Havana boat race Mick and his friends were planning, and blow him off. But when Customs and Treasury gets involved, and an unnamed "heavy weight" Federal agency tells him to bug off or else, Mick decides to investigate on his own.

Despite the danger and Mick's repeated protestations, a motley band of locals pledge to help him find the murderers and even the score. Through the back alleys and bars of Key West the friends gather information and lay their plans.

Meanwhile, Mick is attacked and nearly drowns, his boat is targeted for explosives, and an acquaintance from his "dark-ops" past mysteriously appears.

A life-and-death chase through a graveyard at midnight, a daring rescue of a half-dead beauty from the deep blue sea, and a fearsome face-down with a Cuban Army General on a Havana beach will quicken the heart rate of readers and send them flying through the final pages.

Not all is won at the end, but Mick has a good tale to tell, and though he'll never stop looking over his shoulder, he'll also not stop ... chasin' the wind aboard his 40-foot sloop.

Haskins knows Key West well, especially the night spots and boat docks. His characters are imaginative and colorful, including a "mooching" ex-priest who talks with angels and is uncannily correct in his predictions.

Hastings weaves a political conspiracy plot to equal Grisham or Ludlum, and then pumps it with patriotism, camaraderie and a touch of romance.