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Ex Boston cop J W Jackson retired to Martha's Vineyard with shrapnel in his leg from Viet Nam and a bullet lodged near his spinal cord courtesy of a Boston shooting. He makes his living now as a fisherman, selling fresh seafood like bluefish, clams and quahogs to local markets in the area. Occasionally, J W uses his investigative skills when an interesting case appears. Jackson meets the impressive Professor Marjorie Summerharp while clamming. She is 70 years old, a well-known figure in higher education, with a biting humor who doesn't suffer fools lightly. She is on Martha's Vineyard with a colleague, the much younger and handsome Ian McGregor, working on a paper about a missing Shakespearean play. When Marjorie Summerharp's body is found in the nets of a trawler her death is called accidental. After all, she was elderly and not in good health. She went swimming at six in the morning, as was her custom, and apparently swam out too far. For Jackson, something just doesn't seem right and he is correct. Someone wanted Marjorie Summerharp dead. DEATH IN VINEYARD WATERS is a carefully structured soft-boiled mystery with a delightful marriage of plot and dynamic breathing characters. Craig surrounds Jackson with intelligent friends in the charming setting of Martha's Vineyard. Jackson has many layers to his personality: cop, investigator, friend, lover, gardener, cook, fisherman. His keen intelligence and desire to do the right thing make him very likable. There is a lot going on in this novel. Craig gives us details on Shakespeare, fraud in academia, history of Martha's Vineyard, gardening, cooking, fishing and sailing. He does it in such a graceful, intelligent style that the reader is lulled completely into the world that is Martha's Vineyard. I found myself revisiting the people and places mentioned as if I'd just returned from traveling and picking green beans in Jackson's backyard garden. Craig does all of this and writes a satisfying mystery novel. DEATH IN VINEYARD WATERS was first published in 1991 as THE WOMAN WHO WALKED INTO THE SEA and is the second novel in the very successful Martha's Vineyard series.
Reviewed by Lane Wright, March 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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