Skalka, left, sets her mysteries in Door County locales.
By now, loyal readers of Patricia Skalka’s “Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery” series know to expect the unexpected. Each of her first three novels — Death Stalks Door County, Death at Gills Rock and Death in Cold Water — pivot on memorable plot twists and increasingly jarring finales.
Four years after she introduced Cubiak, a former Chicago cop who witnessed the death of his wife and daughter and relocated to Door County to rebuild his life, Skalka returns with Death Rides the Ferry, her fourth novel in the series published by University of Wisconsin Press. The title is a reference to the vessels that travel back and forth across the strait known as Death’s Door, connecting the Door County Peninsula mainland with Washington Island.
When the novel opens, it’s the height of tourist season, and Washington Island is hosting a world-renowned early-music festival that takes place every 10 years. An unidentified young woman dies on a packed ferry, and Cubiak can’t ignore the similarities to another mystery that unfolded at the festival four decades earlier.
Skalka delivers two mysteries for the price of one, with Cubiak revisiting details of the first crime — when the theft of a priceless 16th-century viol also resulted in a woman’s death — while attempting to solve the second one.
Cubiak, a quiet character who said little more than necessary when he arrived from the Windy City as a reluctant park ranger in Death Stalks Door County, has evolved into a highly likeable county sheriff with both smarts and heart. While previous books in the series rarely placed him in serious danger, Skalka’s protagonist faces unfavorable life-or-death odds this time.
It’s also clear the author’s Door County roots run deep, as she takes advantage of the 300 miles of scenic shoreline, wooded state parks, quirky locals, shifty tourists, and plentiful hiding places that make for prime killing grounds.
The result is an enchanting example of Wisconsin noir, and it’s tempting to linger over Skalka’s immersive prose: “A ribbon of mist blurred the shoreline. Farther out, four black dots emerged from the fading, gossamer fog. Like a loose string of ebony opals, they danced across the waves toward Detroit Harbor.”
Pack this one for your Door County vacation this summer; just watch yourself on the ferry.
Skalka will appear at Mystery to Me, 1863 Monroe St., on Friday, May 18, at 7 p.m.