Vineyard Stalker

What a fun book, quick read great for summer and always on the mark. I've gone through four of his this last month...keep them coming!

Sadly this will be the last vineyard Mystery from Philip Craig. He died this past May and will be sorely missed by those of us that have read every one of his books. I totally recommend starting this series from the beginning and you will get to know all of the characters that are repeated in each book. Watch JW fall in love with Zee and watch their two children grow. JW is always able to figure out the mystery and the reader can never figure it out before he does. Philip Craig will be a hard act to follow.

We lost the author, Philip Craig, on May 8. Those of us who love mysteries will miss him very much.

First Sentence: Zee and the kids had gone to America to visit Zee's parents in Fall River, so I was having breakfast in the Dock Street Coffee Shop listening to Chad Martin trying to decide just which of Martha's Vineyard's public institutions was the most maddening. With his family away, ex-cop J.W. Jackson is open to helping one of the town's realtors. Her sister controls a valuable parcel of land she'd like to sell to developers. The only thing stopping her is their brother Roland, a Vietnam Vet, who lives a simple life there on the terms of a trust. Someone has been vandalizing the property in an effort to encourage Roland to leave. A wealthy neighbor and Roland's lover, turns up dead but J.W. doesn't believe Roland is the killer and set's to prove it. It is sad knowing this is the last book Mr. Craig authored alone before his passing, [NOTE: I understand he may have finishing two more books yet to be published] but it is also a wonderful tribute to him. I do feel this was his best book and not because it is the last book. Perhaps because the family wasn't there, it was very much J.W. detecting on his own and seemed to have a bit darker tone to it. None of Craig's classic elements were missing; not the humor, or the recipes or the wonderful sense of place he creates or the solid development of the characters. I, too, knew people who fought in Vietnam and appreciated the way Craig handled the character of Roland. The end surprised me but didn't. One can easily read this book as a standalone, and I highly recommend you do.

Philip Craig passed away in May, leaving three completed novels in the publication pipeline. This is the first of the three. While all the novels are set on Martha's Vineyard, he managed to maintain the readers' interest by varying the characters and local settings. The present novel relates to the skyrocketing prices of real estate on Martha's Vineyard - something that the author witnessed first hand. It is about greed, jealousy, lust, and rage. An older man has a one room cabin on a prime piece of real estate, allowed to occupy the land under conditions of a family trust. His cousin wants him to move so that she can sell the property. Now someone is trying to drive him off the land. The man's sister has hired J. W. Jackson to find out who is behind the harassment of her brother. When you turn over rocks, there is no telling what you will find. There are many relationships involving the principals in the case, and someone tries to eliminate J.W., which is not a smart move. Money talks and some high priced attorneys become involved. There are some victims in the novel, and some sleezeballs that may walk away clean. It has a sad ending.