I was enjoying my first foray into the fictional world of Riley Fitzhugh, newly entered into the ranks of officers in the U.S. Navy at the onset of World War II, when I decided to look up the series by Terry Mort to see how many more books awaited me. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Hunters in the Stream was not the first book in the series after all; it follows three previous novels in which Fitzhugh is a private detective in Hollywood.

That's right -- the series abruptly shifts gears (and genres) midstream. Hunters in the Stream, a naval adventure book set in the seas surrounding Florida and Cuba in the early days of the war, follows after three books that apparently are mystery-thrillers. Two more navy books come later, with possibly more to come; although there was a four-year gap between the first and second novels in the series, Mort has been publishing one a year ever since.

In Hunters, after years as a "private dick" in Los Angeles where he's surrounded by fame and glory, Fitzhugh volunteers for navy service because war seems imminent; in fact, during his three months of training to become a junior officer, Japanese forces hit Pearl Harbor, and the United States enters the war.

Fitzhugh is assigned as an ensign to PC475, a nameless anti-U-boat vessel based in Key West. (Although ships of that class were just given numbers, not names, the crew of PC475 decide to dub their boat Nameless because, well, you know.) Their primary assignment is to search for Nazi fuel depots that are rumored to be hidden among the unmapped and ever-changing inlets and islands around Cuba.

Fitzhugh serves under the affable but extremely competent Captain Ted Ford and, because the ship is shorthanded, is immediately assigned to serve as the exec, or second in command. Experience for Fitzhugh will have to come the hard way.

The novel is a pleasant read, in part because everyone is, apparently, a master of quick and witty banter. While it's a stretch to assume that everyone Fitzhugh meets shares the same sense of humor, it still makes for a fun narrative.

There's a bit of romance, too. While ashore in Cuba, Fitzhugh meets and woos Martha Wellhorn, a journalist and author of some historical note. Look her up, she was a fascinating person with quite a resume to her credit. She was also married at the time, but that's not necessarily an impediment to true love ... or, you know, a heartfelt but hasty fling.

The book also introduces readers to Martha's husband at the time, author Ernest Hemingway, and touches on his dramatic hunt for German submarines in his wooden fishing boat -- a slice of history that is also the subject of The Hemingway Patrols, a nonfiction book written by Mort and first published in 2009.

A glance over Mort's list of publications shows him to be a writer of diverse interests, who jockeys back and forth between fiction and nonfiction in a variety of genres. Based on this book alone, I would love to read more of his work -- particularly the further (and past) adventures of Riley Fitzhugh.

Caveat: This is a book where it's vitally important not to read the plot summary on the inside flap of the cover. It lays out every single detail of the story to come, so if you read those three short paragraphs, you'll know exactly what lies ahead. Who does that?

[ visit Terry Mort's website ]