Murder at a Vineyard Mansion - A Martha's Vineyard Mystery

Informationen zum Autor The late Philip R. Craig was the author of nineteen novels in the Martha’s Vineyard Mystery series. A professor emeritus of English at Wheelock College in Boston, he loved the Vineyard and lived there year-round with his wife, Shirley. Klappentext Fresh from his recent acclaim as a Good Morning America Bookclub choice, Philip R. Craig casts his observant eye on the fine line between tragedy and comedy on Martha's Vineyard.Just look at the Vineyard's criminal du jour, "the Silencer." Loved by many and hated by some, the perp's on a campaign to destroy the audio systems in music-blasting party houses and open-windowed vehicles. Owners of said houses and vehicles feel both fear and hate, while some residents who seek silence silently cheer.J. W. Jackson, former cop and now a part-time investigator, finds it difficult to get too excited about the Silencer's crimes. J.W.'s a classical music man himself, which may explain his reluctance to take the so-called crimes very seriously.The fun stops, however, when someone is killed -- a night watchman is thrown over a cliff near an outrageously large new Chappaquiddick mansion.Who killed Ollie Mattes? Was it the womanizer Harold Hobbes? Harold's mother, Vineyard aristocrat Maud Mayhew, begs J.W. to prove her son's innocence. Harold may have been guilty of vandalism at the mansion, but according to Maud, he's not a killer.But if Harold didn't kill Ollie, who did? J.W. will soon find himself mired in an intrigue that links some of the Vineyard's most prominent families, families that have known, and sometimes hated, one another for generations. Who is telling the truth? Who will die next?Meanwhile, at home, J.W.'s under pressure from Zee and the kids to acquire their first computer. Will J.W. ever enter the modern era? It's three against one, so how long can he hold out?With his usual glorious mix of Vineyard ambience, romance, food, fishing, and first-rate suspense, Craig once again proves that his Martha's Vineyard mysteries are the perfect summer read. Chapter 1 I was coming out of the Dock Street Coffee Shop at the foot of Main Street when I saw Sergeant Tony D'Agostine of the Edgartown PD step out of his cruiser and head in my direction. He apparently needed a caffeine hit to keep him going for the rest of his shift. "What's up on the mean streets?" I asked. "Well," he said, "Mickey Gomes escaped from jail last night and hasn't come back." The county jail in Edgartown looks more like a nice big white house than a jail, and Mickey wasn't the first person to break out of it. None of the escapees ever stay escaped very long, though, because Martha's Vineyard is an island so there's only so far you can run and the police know most of the places you can hide. "What do you mean he hasn't come back?" I asked. "I mean that he's escaped several times in the last year, usually after supper. But he's always come back in time for breakfast. This time, though, a jailer noticed he was missing and our best guess is that when Mickey saw a bunch of cops wandering around the jail, he was afraid to come back so he went and hid." "What's he in for?" "Statutory rape. He got it on with a fifteen-year-old girl a couple of years ago. This escape isn't anything to worry about. He's not dangerous and we know where he is." "Where's that?" "Up in the woods by the girl's house. When he breaks out he spends the night with her. According to her parents, she's seven months pregnant with his child." I did some fast calculating. "Sired on one of his jailbreaks, I take it." "You take it right. She's seventeen now and he's twenty and they want to get hitched, but the honeymoon will have to wait until he does the extra time for breaking jail. He had bad luck getting nailed now because he only had a couple more weeks to serve. Mickey's not too bright, but then again he...

Product details

• Authors: Philip R. Craig, Craig Philip R.
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.07.2007
• EAN: 9781416569510
• ISBN: 978-1-4165-6951-0
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 216 mm x 19 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Suspense; Crime & mystery, FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Private Investigators, Crime and mystery fiction