Dangerous Discoveries in Martha’s Vineyard

I started with my Valentine’s Day blogs and offerings last week. Check out my post on celebrating Valentine’s Day with your furry friend! End the day with a cozy mystery featuring your favourite four-legged characters.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

Deadly Nightshade is part of Cynthia Riggs’s Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries series. I haven’t read any of her books before. With an eye for detail, Cynthia Riggs paints a vivid picture of the harbor and its boats while unfolding the investigation. I love protagonist Victoria Trumbull, who is 92 years old, but still very spry and active, a poet, and a fixture on the island with a long memory of its history. She overhears a murder and is one of the parties who finds the body. As Victoria dives deeper into the mystery, she uncovers a web of secrets and lies that could be more dangerous than she imagined.

The scream jolted her out of her reverie.
Cynthia Riggs, Deadly Nightshade

The scream jolted her out of her reverie

Summary

Victoria Trumbull has lived most of her 92 years on the Island. Like other Islanders, she knows the sound of the sea in calm and stormy weather – and she knows the sounds that do not belong. One evening while Victoria waits on the dock for her granddaughter to return with the harbormaster, she hears a chilling scream followed by a splash and the sound of tires skidding on sand. She investigates and discovers a mutilated body floating on the outgoing tide.

With her granddaughter, Domingo the harbormaster, a swarm of Island characters, and a few mysterious visitors, Victoria manages to get in a good bit of detective work. However, she isn’t able to prevent further homicide. As the tension mounts, Victoria concocts a scheme to reveal the killer and still has time to prepare her traditional Saturday night supper of Boston baked beans.

While the summer visitors bask on the beach, sail Island waters, shop in the Island stores, the reader is treated to the magic, the history and the texture of “the Vineyard” with its year-round characters real enough to include the reader in their conversations.