Sagas and Sea Smoke by Susan Nicol

(11. – 983.) Sagas and Sea Smoke by Susan Nicol - Canada is a land with many remote corners. The northern tip of the island of Newfoundland is, in our time, literally at the end of the road. A thousand years ago it was known as Vinland and the location of the first European settlement in North America as Vikings from Greenland established a village at the L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.

Audrey Vincent, a young archeologist, and Luc Laliberte, a young Metis man, both from Manitoba, travel together to St. Anthony, the largest town near the historic site.

They have summer jobs at L.A.M., the local acronym for the site. Audrey will be excavating as an archeologist and Luc has a position in the Young Canada Works program with Parks Canada.

Audrey is an amazing 19 year old woman. She already holds an undergraduate degree. She speaks several languages and has a photographic memory. In common with many brilliant sleuths she has little patience with the less brilliant. She is forthright and quick in retorts.

Her brilliance does go over the top. She is credited with black belts in four martial arts. As the holder of a black belt in judo it defies credibility for her to have four black belts at 19. Nicol could have still had Audrey an incredible young woman without the never ending embellishments.

At an upscale Scoff and Scuff in honour of visiting politicians and scientists and representatives of UNESCO they meet Alexis McQueen, an anthropologist.

Audrey had gained fame for finding a 3,000 year old cache of trade goods at the Forks in Winnipeg. Luc cleverly introduces Audrey to those present as “Manitoba Jones”.

Alexis, with long held feelings of inadequacy, is instantly jealous and vows to herself to destroy Audrey and steal Luc away from Audrey. The jealousy only builds when Alexis learns that Audrey has a Rhodes Scholarship.

Audrey has visions that take her back in history. On that first night she sees young Viking men going through an initiation ceremony involving putrefied Greenland shark. (Were it fresh they would have died.) Not only does she have visions she interacts with the ancient ones in her visions.

The dig this summer was inspired by a rune stick found by tourists. Audrey, of Icelandic descent, can partially read the stick. She suspects the stick, while authentic, was planted where it was found.

Part of the summer research is to see if they can solve a murder mystery a thousand years old. Recounted in the ancient Saga of the Greenlanders Thorvald Eiriksson was killed in Vinland.

A huge plain spoken RCMP officer, Lenny Andersen, even though the cold case is a thousand years old, recommends she follow the money of today. $2,000,000 was made available for the current excavations primarily because of the rune stick.

The plot is a strong combination of a love story, a mystery and historical exploration. Newfoundland’s land, people and culture make it a special story.

The mystery does get lost for awhile in the personal relationships. I wish Nicol had further developed the archeological exploration into the Viking murder. While I normally appreciate books of 196 pages Sagas and Sea Smoke could have been expanded to fill out the resolution of the mystery.

Nicol has a deft feel for the Newfoundland dialect and lifestyle. I expect every reader to want to head to L.A.M. this summer and experience Vikings and Newfoundlanders.

As the end nears there is a little bit too much perfection for Audrey and Luc and the other “good” characters.

Audrey and Luc are an endearing couple who could sustain other mysteries. At the same time Audrey easily could carry a series on her own. She is the best young fictional sleuth I have encountered since Ava Lee of the Ian Hamilton series. (Lee did settle for mastering one martial art.)  I hope Nicol writes more mysteries featuring Audrey, with or without Luc.