The Fisher Boy

Book excerpt: Spiraling off the tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown has long been a place of escape, new beginnings, and diverse communities. Famous as an art colony, known for the Cape Cod School, its gallery scene is vibrant. Gay life is everywhere. Boston comic Mark Winslow has arrived this summer with a group of fellow improv actors ready to break into Provincetown's club circuit. It should be a carefree summer, but currents swirl beneath the sunny surface. Does the tall ship out in the harbor herald an unusually large crowd of Scandinavian tourists? If not, who are the blond and ragged visitors seen everywhere? Then, at a philanthropist's dinner opening the season, Mark gets into a very public fight with the son of local bluebloods—an old school friend. It makes him the prime suspect when the lawyer is later savagely murdered out on the beach. Though he stumbles from the scene, Mark thinks his choice is simple: find the killer or be charged with the crime. The Fisher Boy is Stephen Anable's debut novel.