There’s lots of action in “The Lighthouse Society,” the debut mystery novel by Maine native Jerry Graffam, and the author has a good sense of place when describing the island-studded waters off midcoast Maine. But the plot veers too often into fantasy that challenges the suspension of disbelief essential to a good mystery.

Excitement prevails at the start of Graffam’s novel. It’s the early 1990s when main character Jack Chandler — 12 at that time — embarks on a nighttime ferry ride to Carroll Island. When the ferry hits a ledge in stormy seas, Jack’s parents are drowned. Young Jack wakes up in a hospital bed days later after being “found along the shore of Tenants Harbor.”

That’s a bit hard for a reader to accept. Bodies do wash ashore after disasters at sea, but they’re usually just that: Bodies.

It is an exciting start, however. Jack is raised by his grandparents. He has no memory of the ferry disaster, and grows up to work for Maine Life & Trust Insurance Co. But he’s troubled by a suspicion of foul play in the death of his parents. So he quits his job and, with girlfriend Kendra, returns to the island to solve the mystery.

Without giving away the story, it’s soon evident to Jack and Kendra that placid Carroll Island isn’t the pleasant summer playground it’s made out to be. It’s run by the secretive and evil Light House Society, a group with roots stretching back to a Freemason organization that settled the island. Behind the scenes, it rules Carroll Island with an iron fist.

“For all intents and purposes,” writes Graffam, “proper democracy did not exist. It was a crime to talk about or even inquire into membership of the society.”

The society isn’t pleased to have Jack inquiring into his parents’ deaths, and will do what it takes to scare him off the island — or worse.

There’s no shortage of action in “The Lighthouse Society,” and Graffam’s knowledge of weather and maritime happenings help set the scene. But reality ends when it comes to character behavior.

Kendra, for example, is supposed to be a smart trial lawyer. But when she’s with Jack, the two behave more like a couple in a novel from 1950.

Early in the book, when they’re awakened at night by smashing glass and the sound of an intruder in their house, Jack commands, “Get under the bed, Kendra.” After a showdown in the house that has Jack and the intruder trading gunfire, Kendra crawls out from under the bed into Jack’s waiting arms. “Are you OK?” she asks.

Jack assures her he is OK and that the intruder is gone, although his “torso was still trembling from his encounter.”

To be fair, Kendra does develop as a character. Her last appearance in the novel features some of Graffam’s best writing.

Graffam grew up in Maine, where he learned sailing at an early age. He lived in London as a teen, and returned to the U.S. to attend Babson College. He later transferred to the University of Southern Maine, where he received a degree in English literature in 2003.

Two summers at Portland’s Stone Coast Writer’s Conference followed. With his wife, Julie, Graffam lives in Portland. Mystery writer Tess Gerritsen and former Gov. Angus King endorse his debut novel.

“The Lighthouse Society” is a promising book with some believability problems.

Lloyd Ferriss is a writer and photographer who lives in Richmond.

 

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