‘Kingfisher and the Crow’ reels in the reader

(Submitted photo)

Peter M. Marino has attended scores of political fundraisers. He knows the scene and the routine.

The host and beneficiary of the event stands at the door welcoming arrivals. A member of the staff checks off names while another makes certain those names are whispered to the honoree, just to be sure there isn’t an embarrassing slip up.

Some attendees are there on complimentary tickets, but others have paid full freight and others have given much more. They are there for many reasons other than to simply support the candidate. Some want to be swept up in the excitement of rubbing shoulders with someone of notoriety and the campaign. Others are looking to measure the candidate’s support. And yet others expect to have a word with the candidate as they promote a cause.

Marino has watched many crowds as evidenced in the opening chapters of “The Kingfisher and the Crow,” the recently released mystery novel he co-authored with a long-time friend Tim Diaz. The book opens at the Good Samaritan, a not too swank Washington watering hole where most of the fish swirling around the bar are sharks, barracudas and baitfish.

The Cudas, short for barracudas, are “slick, fast and aggressive men and even faster, hotter hard-drinking women.” The scene is a fundraiser for Jerry Sharpe, a freshman congressman from upstate New York who is on a hunt for who murdered his mother.

The analogy of a fish tank to political fundraisers rings true. The twist is the hunt for a murderer.

And what does this have to do with a kingfisher and a crow?

This is Marino and Diaz’s first book.

Marino has served as President and CEO at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island since 2014. He has swum in Ocean State political and government waters for much of his career. He has served as the director of the Rhode Island Office of Management the Rhode Island Senate Fiscal Advisor, Director of Research and Policy for the Providence-based RDW Group, and Director of Policy and Municipal Affairs for the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

Diaz, who lives in New Hampshire with his family, has had a varied career. Having on the board of the local Meals on Wheels program, worked in apparel business and as a teacher, he transitioned to the nonprofit sector and is now the Executive Director of Meals on Wheels of Rockingham County in southeastern New Hampshire

Marino and Diaz’s story as co-authors goes back about 20 years. Both are fishermen. They had planned on fishing in Rhode Island when a freak snow storm hit and not even Peter, who is a diehard fisherman, ventured out. They stayed in a cabin to learn both enjoyed writing stories. Not until many years later when Covid hit did they hatch the idea of co-authoring a mystery.

Initially the thought was to share the book with friends and family, but then as they got deeper and deeper into the story they hooked up with an editor. She came up with 40 pages of suggestions, concluding they had something of interest to a publisher. They found Bookpress Publishing. The entire process took almost four years.

How do friends write a book?

From the start Diaz took on the role of the good guy, which left Marino the role of the bad guy. They would write scenes from the two perspectives and then fit the pieces together. Collectively, Diaz estimates, the two of them wrote enough for two and a half books.

“Any decisions were accidental,” claims Diaz.

The result is fast paced tale that takes the reader speeding through chapters. Chapters are as short as two pages that can be unnerving, disturbing and leave you wondering how many of the blue bloods … “the real deal” will get hunted down by Jerry and how he will do them in.

Then there’s Skylar Nicholson. She’s a crime correspondent with The Tread, an online newspaper that has a reputation for breaking stories. She’s on the hunt, too, and out to establish her credentials as a journalist.

Like so much in this book, the title reveals itself over time, leaving the reader no doubt who is the kingfisher and who is the crow. And as stated on the back of the book, this is a story of one party blinded by revenge and another who clutches to secrets about identity and a life never lived.

“It’s not horror,” says Diaz. “We’re trying to engage the reader and take them on a roller coaster ride.”

Careful, you could get hooked.