Part of Series
“Absolutely the best private-eye mystery I’ve read. I can’t wait for the next one.” — Clive Cussler Aristotle Plato (“Soc”) Socarides has got a business card as unusual as his name: he’s a private investigator, a diver, and a fisherman operating out of Cape Cod. But he’s definitely got the perfect resume when the owners of a marine park desperately need someone to prove that a suspect is innocent of murder—the suspect being Rocky, a ten-ton killer whale who’s the park’s star attraction. Soc goes undercover as an employee at the Oceanus Aquatic Park, which has been closed to the public since the death of animal trainer Eddy Byron. Picketed by animal rights groups and beset by sensationalist publicity, Oceanus no longer looks so attractive to the Japanese conglomerate that’s been eager to buy it. Soc’s employer’s, the owners of the park, want him to quickly clear the whale of suspicion, get to the bottom of why Eddy Byron died, and help convince the Japanese to close the deal. Easier said than done. Eddy Byron turns out to have been an unpleasant fellow, a heavy drinker who used outdated and cruel methods to train his animals. When another former employee dies hours before a scheduled meeting with Soc, it becomes evident that if Rocky’s the killer, he’s got a two-legged assistant on land. With a beautiful dolphin trainer assisting him in the water and out, Soc learns a few lessons—some quite painful—about the creatures of the sea and the people who care for them. “Former newsman Kemprecos delivers the where, why, what, when, and finally who in a whodunit strengthened by gritty dialogue and assured depictions of suspenseful dives.” —
Author
My fiction-writing career owes it start to the bad navigation of an 18th century pirate. For it was in 1717 that a ship, the Whydah went aground, reportedly carrying a fabulous treasure. In the 1980s, three salvage groups went head-to-head, competing to find the wreck. The controversy over the salvage got hot at times and I thought there might be a book in their story. I was working for a newspaper at the time. I developed my own detective, an ex-cop, diver, fisherman, and PI named Aristotle “Soc” Socarides. He was more philosophical than hard-boiled. Making his first appearance in “Cool Blue Tomb,” the book won the Shamus award for Best Paperback novel. After many years in the newspaper business, I turned to writing fiction and churned out five more books in the series. Clive Cussler blurbed: “There can be no better mystery writer in America than Paul Kemprecos.” Despite the accolades, the Soc series lingered in mid-list hell. By the time I finished my last book, I was thinking about another career that might make me more money, like working in a 7-11. Several months after the release of “Bluefin Blues,” Clive called and said a spin-off from the Dirk Pitt series was in the works. It would be called the NUMA Files and he wondered if I would be interested in tackling the job. I took on the writing of “Serpent” which brought into being Kurt Austin and the NUMA Special Assignments Team. Austin had some carry-over from Soc, and another team member, Paul Trout, had been born on Cape Cod. The book made The New York Times bestseller list, as did every one of seven NUMA Files that followed, including “Polar Shift,” which bumped “The DaVinci Code” for first place. After eight NUMA Files I went back to writing solo. I wrote an adventure book entitled, The Emerald Scepter, which introduced a new hero, Matinicus “Matt” Hawkins. I have been working on the re-release of my Soc series in digital and print, and in 2013, responding to numerous requests, I brought Soc back again in a seventh Socarides book entitled, Grey Lady. My wife Christi and I live on Cape Cod where she works as a financial advisor. We live in a circa 1865 farmhouse with two cats. We have three children and seven granddaughters. To learn more about Paul Kemprecos, check out his website at http://www.paulkemprecos.com.
