This week’s forgotten book is really about a series that is too good to fade into oblivion. Before Victoria Houston wrote about fly-fishing in fictional Loon Lake, Wisconsin, and Keith McCafferty gave us Sean Stranahan, a fly fisherman and private investigator in Montana, William G. Tapply (1940-2009) invented Brady Coyne, a lawyer in Boston who practiced just enough law to pay for his fishing trips. Tapply was a committed fisherman in his real life, publishing some 15 books about the sport and serving as a contributing editor for Field and Stream and a special correspondent for American Angler while earning a living teaching college-level writing.
Brady Coyne first appeared in Death at Charity’s Point (Scribner, 1984), which was a finalist for the 1985 New Blood Dagger Award. His last adventure Outwitting Trolls (Minotaur, 2010) was published posthumously. In between were 26 more well-written and logically constructed books of Coyne’s adventures. Three of those adventures were conducted in tandem with J.W. Jackson, his fictional friend created by Philip Craig (1933-2007), another fisherman. Jackson was a retired policeman eking out a living via fishing and odd jobs on Martha’s Vineyard in 22 well-done mysteries.
Coyne is a sole legal practitioner with little interest in getting ahead. He’s developed a specialized practice among the wealthy residents of the Boston area, holding hands and accommodating peculiarities while charging through the nose for the personalized service. Like other fictional lawyers – Dismas Hardy, Jake Lassiter, Paul Madriani, Matthew Hope, and Antony Maitland and Perry Mason before them – Coyne finds that he can’t meet his clients’ expectations or needs by sitting behind his desk. Of all of the lawyers mentioned, Coyne doesn’t spend much time in court. When he does, he doesn’t talk about it. The action all takes place outside the courtroom. In many ways legal thriller is an inaccurate term as the law plays a minimal role in these books. No great courtroom scenes as there are with Antony Maitland, Dismas Hardy, and Perry Mason.
In his last adventure Coyne hears from a former neighbor, a veterinarian who is in the area for a business conference. They meet for a drink and to catch up on their lives. Twenty-four hours later the former neighbor is found bloodily dead in his hotel room with a large amount of ketamine in his closet. The police are quite interested in the victim’s plans for the street drug and really interested in his ex-wife, who found the body. Coyne undertakes to divert the attention of the police from his client the ex-wife and as usual uncovers a far more complex set of circumstances than expected.
Tapply’s books are a pleasure to read. His prose is crisp and clear, his plots are convincing, the pacing never drags. His settings are nicely portrayed and subtly reinforce the credibility of the story. I read several titles in the series over the Independence Day weekend and was reminded just how fine they are. Highly recommended, especially for anyone looking for a series to binge-read over the summer.