By William S. Allen
Special to THE DAILY

The South Texas coast hosts many thousands of visitors each year. The economy of much of the area is dependent on these vacationers who have come to enjoy the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, more disruptive visitors also occasionally appear.

“Rebel Island” is the seventh in a series of mystery novels in which award-winning author Rick Riordan has used Tres Navarre, a private investigator, as the protagonist. As PIs go, Tres is more like Sam Spade than Nick Charles, although there are elements of each in his style.

The book opens with Tres marrying his very pregnant girlfriend, Maia, and deciding to retire from PI work. He is now a family man, his enemies list is growing longer, and his love-hate relationship with law enforcement officials is not making his life any easier.

Three on a honeymoon

Garrett, Tres’ brother, wants Tres to go to Rebel Island, where they spent their childhood summers, for a honeymoon. Tres’ memories of the island are not altogether happy, but he agrees to go.

The trio (Garrett has tagged along) arrives at Rebel Island to encounter a disparate group of hotel employees and guests: Alex, Garrett’s friend and owner of the island’s one hotel; Chris, the unlikely hotel manager; a Mexican couple who serve as cook and maid; a young woman who is running away from herself; three college students in continuous party mode; Mr. Lindy, a distinguished lawyer; and Longoria, a federal marshal who is on the trail of the contract killer for a drug cartel. A hurricane soon engulfs the island, cutting off all communications with the mainland. Agatha Christie would have been proud of this setup.

Point of view shifts

Frequent changes in point of view allow the reader into the thoughts of all the characters, including Calavera, the contract killer. (A calavera is a small candy skull associated with the Mexican holida, Day of the Dead, and the killer always leaves one at the scenes of his crimes as a calling card.) Calavera’s preferred technique is bombing, but he is willing to use other means, also.

It is unclear until the finale whether Calavera is one of the previously identified characters, or whether he is a separate person hiding on the island. What becomes increasingly clear, however, is that everyone present has either a direct or indirect connection to Calavera — and to each other.

When Longoria is found murdered in his room, Tres reluctantly begins an investigation. Chris is missing from the group, and so becomes a prime suspect. He is exonerated when his corpse is found in a walk-in freezer. Alex is the next best candidate; his hobby from boyhood has been building fireworks from scratch. But as the history of each of the characters comes out, the list of suspects gets longer. Meanwhile, the hurricane increases in strength. Tres struggles to solve these murders before everyone is done in by Calavera or the hurricane.

“Rebel Island” is fast-paced and full of surprises. The changes in point of view can be a distraction, but not enough of one to make this book not worth reading.

I was pleased with myself for being able to guess Calavera’s identity well before the end of the book. Naturally, my guess was wrong.

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