Black Swan -- Chris Knopf

I've read and reviewed several of Chris Knopf's books in the past and enjoyed all of them. Two of those I reviewed were about Sam Aquillo, a carpenter in the Hamptons who was once a corporate trouble-shooter. This time time Aquillo's not in the Hamptons because he's (and his girlfriend, Amanda, and his dog, Eddie van Halen) delivering a boat when an October gale blows him off course and onto Fisher's Island, a sort of unattached scrap of Long Island, where the richest folks in the country spend their summers. The only hotel on the island is the Black Swan.

Before you can say "enclosed setting with a small cast," someone's found hanging in a hotel shower. Sam's certain it's not suicide, and of course it's not.

The book has a great cast of eccentrics and nutcases, not to mention some fugitive techies with a past that's threatening to get even more people killed, including Sam himself. If you haven't made his acquaintance, this would be a good time.

Slight disclaimer: I was on a panel with Chris Knopf at the San Francisco Bouchercon in 2010, but I'd already read and reviewed three of his books.

By the way, I'm sure the title of this book was decided long before the award-winning movie of the same name. The movie and book have absolutely no relationship. Sam Aquillo doesn't do ballet.