Close-hauled — Michael Robertson

(2016; Jack Tar Publishing; $14.99 paperback, $2.99 e-book)

Remember Travis Mcgee, the hard-boiled liveaboard protagonist who prevailed through 21 John D. Macdonald crime/ mystery/detective books? Sadly he’s frozen in time, but readers hungry for more now have a new protagonist: Sim Greene, a modern-day liveaboard sailor in Southern California. In this first installment of a series I’m eager to consume, Sim Greene finds a murder victim outside Ventura Harbor. Right away, the discovery shoves him down a twisting, unknowable path that pits his intelligence and intuition against those determined to take not just his life, but also the lives of those close to him.