The Secret of Rosalita Flats

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S THE SECRET OF ROSALITA FLATS ABOUT?
Once upon a time, Cal Batten and his family lived on Blacktip Island (a Caribbean Resort island) in a strangely shaped house. At some point, his mother moves back to the mainland, taking Cal with her. Years later, following a divorce and struggling to keep his business alive, Cal's back on the island. His father, Rhodes, has died and Cal's come to get things in order and sell the house. Hopefully, he can make enough money to bail out his clock repair business.

Cal hasn't been on the island in years, doesn't want to be there now, and honestly hasn't been in touch with his father enough to care about his death. But maybe, just maybe, some good can come out of things. But before he can get to that, he needs to: find the will and make sure he actually owns anything; make sense of his father's financial situation (step 1: find out how he made any money); find someone to buy the house/land. None of these things prove easy.

There are plenty of people on the island who remember Cal (some of whom he has vague memories of), but most just know him as the stranger who's come to sell the house—and either mistrust him as an outsider, or see him as a mark to take advantage of.* There's a couple of childhood friends—Marina, who doesn't seem to care that he's back, and Rafe seems to be jealous of the romantic interest between Marina and Cal. There's his father's neighbors, who seem to be the most normal people on the island, there's the fixit man who has premonitions (and a strange sense of humor) about Cal's future, an eccentric man who will attack sinners with hammers for God, and a whole lot of people who seem more interested in bilking tourists and anyone else they can out of whatever money they have. Oh, and the world's most loyal cleaning lady—who refuses to let Cal fire her (she's been paid in advance for the whole year), and insists on helping him sort through papers and impose order on the house (which she has to break into at least once to do her job).

* Both are probably right to an extent.

Someone doesn't want Cal to get the answers he's looking for—and are acting as if Rhodes has some sort of treasure buried/hidden that they want to find first. The house is broken into and searched repeatedly, Cal's stalked, things are stolen from the house, So now it becomes a race—who will find the will and/or whatever other riches might be left by Rhodes first?

BLACKTIP ISLAND
Years ago, I read some/most of the books by Tom Bodett about a town in Alaska called The End of the Road. Each book was a collection of short stories about an eccentrics living in a small town.* Blacktip Island seems to be the same kind of place, if you look at Jackson's website about it, The Blacktip Times, you kind of get the same feel. An entirely fictional place where any number of odd characters live simply to be used for off-kilter little stories.

* Lake Wobegon, Minnesota would also fit this, but I like Bodett and his town more than Keillor and his.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE SECRET OF ROSALITA FLATS?Essentially what you have here is a humorous Fish Out of Water story mixed with a Light Thriller, Cal keeps trying to get his answers (and some money) and is stymied by either a well-intentioned (generally) resident or his own ignorance of the Island (its history, culture, residents).The cast of characters is large enough that you have a hard time getting a real sense for any of them other than Cal for most of the book (the cleaning lady and Marina are exceptions—but it takes most of the book before you really start to get a sense of them). Which is okay, because you don't need to understand these characters to find them amusing.And that's the key to this book—it's amusing. The Cal's quest is interesting enough to keep you turning pages, but what makes it worthwhile is to see him run into various obstacles along the way and to interact with the residents. That's what gives this book its distinctive flavor and will bring a grin to your face.This is just the thing to read sitting in the shade (on a beach if you can find it) for an afternoon with a drink or two, enjoying a summer day.