5 Star Review Secrets buried at sea have a grave tendency to resurface in time. The incident happened twenty years ago. A Naval exercise has gone wrong at a rocky point near San Diego. Not just wrong, it was a complete Ballast Point Breakdown. Butch Fleetwood participated in that Naval exercise. He was a rebel. After so many years, Butch Fleetwood is an urgent problem for P.I. Rolly Waters now, even though Butch Fleetwood is dead. There’s a well-attended party at the San Diego Bay Admirals Club. Guests are enjoying a celebration of the Navy’s top-secret dolphin divers program on the brink of its retirement, and the pending release of the trained dolphins. The sounds of music and conversation fill the air. Then the sound of a motor dominates. A speedboat traveling the Bay approaches fast and crashes the party, right through the frontage windows. Janis Withers crawls out from the explosive blaze, and with her last breath, shouts that Arion has returned. P.I. Rolly Waters wasn’t at the party, but heard about it from a fellow musician who was playing the gig. Rolly is hired to investigate and soon connects Butch Fleetwood’s dog tags to Janis. He had been one of the first Navy divers working in the secret dolphin program. The local police and the FBI are wary as Rolly uncovers clues about several prominent, and also some shadowy individuals. The Navy is not happy that Rolly is asking questions about Arion. With so much against him, Rolly incurs insults and much worse. He views the abuses as expressions of the other person’s fears. What’s worse are the dire threats he faces. Despite the questions and deterrence from the authorities, this determined musician/P.I. follows the trail to its exciting crescendo. This is the fourth novel in the Rolly Waters mystery series, and author, Corey Lynn Fayman paints fascinating glimpses into the world of music and into the contrasting world of Navy programs. This book is a refreshing and contemporary remake of the classic P.I. Genre, including a thrilling and diverse group of supporting characters and suspects. The narration is crisp and bold and is part of the driving force that moves the plot forward at a high velocity. Building suspense into a real page-turner is this author’s forte, and the resolution at the end is nothing short of breathtaking. Rolly Waters reveals that what can be seen on the surface may be a mere reflection of what someone designs. He digs deep to uncover what really happened so long ago. Seeing through the murky water of lies, he finds a wave no one was prepared to ride.

Musician and author Fayman’s fourth Rolly Waters mystery (after Desert City Diva) takes private investigator Rolly on a quest to find Butch Fleetwood, a former Navy diver who’s been missing for over two decades. Environmental activist Janis Withers crashes her boat into the Admiral’s Club ballroom in San Diego, pours gasoline everywhere, and dies in the subsequent fire. Her fellow activist Melody Flowers asks Rolly for help finding Butch, whom Janis claimed was Arion, the dolphin king, and the inspiration for the Lemurian Temple that Melody and Janis founded for dolphin worship, which Janis’s parents plan to sell. As Janis once ran the fan club of Rolly’s former band, he agrees to help Melody. Soon he’s mired in a mystery involving a water park, a wealthy painter, a secretive government contractor, and the elusive Harmonica Dan. As people linked to the investigation die mysteriously, Rolly forges ahead to solve the puzzle of Butch’s disappearance while eluding a cunning killer. Fayman quickly draws the reader in with the boat crash scene, which couples dry humor with fiery drama. The story is fast-paced and intensified by the myriad of twists and turns, each establishing another character who had a reason to want Butch dead. Fayman craftily ties together the mystery behind Butch’s disappearance and the present-day deaths. Though Fayman clearly outlines the characters’ motives and how they connect to one another, readers must pay close attention to the details to have a thorough understanding of the intricately woven web. Fayman expertly underscores the ups and downs of a musical career, and his use of the San Diego area and the influence of the naval base there adds elements of realism and authenticity. Mystery fans will quickly warm to the affable Rolly, a genuine man who, though scarred by events of his past, has embraced the present to live one day at a time. This standalone installment will satisfy both newcomers and series fans with a fascinating mystery and colorful cast.

Entertaining and told with panache, Ballast Point Breakdown is a gripping mystery that forwards clues and prompts laughter. Corey Lynn Fayman’s Ballast Point Breakdown is a pitch perfect murder mystery featuring an eccentric detective. Private detective Rolly Waters finds himself enmeshed in a far-out case. During a farewell party for the US Navy’s elite Dolphin Divers program, a massive fire erupts at the Admiral’s Club. Every attendee flees the flames but one—Janis, who runs toward the flames, shouting her last words: “Arion has returned.” At the same time, a pair of dog tags is found in San Diego. They belong to Butch Fleetwood, a punk singer, journalist, animal rights activist, and former member of the Dolphin Divers who disappeared twenty years prior. Rolly takes the case. Alone, he pieces together Janis’s death and strange warning with the mystery of missing Butch. Razor-sharp writing renders Rolly a classic detective. His cynical worldview dominates, though he’s also sometimes funny, especially when he mocks his antagonists and the strange cast of Southern California characters whom he meets during his investigation. Rolly plays a mean guitar and proves to be a capable swimmer. Best of all, he’s an excellent investigator, pulling the audience along as he investigates the navy, the San Diego underworld, and a strange casino located on a remote, otherwise deserted Mexican island. Other characters are idiosyncratic as well, from the two seeming victims to menacing FBI agents and a character called Dick Nazi. Each of these oddballs helps to unravel the mystery; each is the opposite of fun-loving Rolly, and all serve as good foils. Still, everything circles back to Rolly, whose humor and toughness can be felt on every page; though he’s not the narrator, he speaks the most throughout the novel, and always has plenty to say. The writing moves with speed, is heavy on dialogue, and centers the mystery on most pages. Each chapter features a clue, a major development, or violence; it’s the violence that hurts Rolly the most. The central mystery is bizarre and complicated, involving a criminal conspiracy, government interference, and intertwining pasts, including Rolly’s own tortured history. Rolly’s past is well incorporated, especially near the book’s satisfying conclusion: he has to come to grips with his buried memories before he can tackle the monster of a case and work toward a celebration over music at a favorite taco bar. Entertaining and told with panache, Ballast Point Breakdown is a gripping mystery that forwards clues and prompts laughter.