Finished Fr 5/9/14
At the last meeting of the Classic Book Club one of the men wanted to read this book next year, and I realized that I had pulled this from my collection and put it in the 'to read' pile. I bought the book in 1999, and only skimmed part of it, but did see the film in 2000. The film is in my Netflix queue, but 'Long Wait'.
Set in Puget Sound (Seattle) on fictional island San Piedro 1954.
Local fisherman has died, drowned in his fishing net. Appears to be murder.
He had been in a land dispute with a local Japanese fisherman. This man's family had been buying the land from his father, but missed a payment when they were put in a camp during WWII. The mother sold off the land to another man because of the payment missed. She refunded the money that they had invested, but the Japanese man wanted his land.
However, there was no murder, but it was an accident. There was a dense fog on the night of the incident, and a large boat crossed into the fishing lanes, and the fisherman was knocked off his mast. He had lashed a lantern to the mast because his batteries were out of juice. The Japanese man had stopped to help him, and gave him a spare battery, and they had settled their land disagreement.
The book is a murder mystery and a courtroom drama, with a bit of romance thrown in. Ishmael is a one-armed journalist who had a love affair with the Japanese man's wife when they were both teenagers.
The drama is set during the winter, and hence the name of the book.
Excellent book, and I can't wait to see the film.
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