The late Philip R. Craig was the author of nineteen novels in the Martha's Vineyard Mystery series, including the recently released Vineyard Chill. He loved the Vineyard and lived there year-round with his wife, Shirley.
Craig’s protagonist is J.W. “Jeff” Jackson who has retired -- more or less -- to the Vineyard. His family gets by on his Boston PD pension and his wife’s income as a nurse, living on the cheap with furniture salvaged from the town dump and a fourteen year old Landcruiser. J.W. often puts dinner on the table by fishing and clam digging, and is a superb cook.
The Jacksons are a refreshing change of pace.
Although J.W. is not a licensed P.I., the odd jobs he takes on for a bit of supplemental income often land him in some dangerous situations.
Despite the danger, it is a joy to travel around the island with him both during the hectic in-season and the deserted off-season. If you have ever thought of Martha’s Vineyard as your dream retirement location, these books are for you.
As with all mystery series, you can get a nice online list of all of the titles and the order in which they were published at Stop, You’re Killing Me!.
Craig teamed up with William G. Tapply, author of the Brady Coyne series, for three mysteries featuring both Jackson and Coyne: First Light, Second Sight, and Third Strike.
The first-person narration alternates between the two characters and Publishers Weekly remarked on the “effective volley of tension back and forth between the voices of the veteran sleuths” adding that “The characters feel authentic, as does the flavor of Martha's Vineyard.”
Brady Coyne is a Boston lawyer who, like Perry Mason before him, seems to favor a hands-on approach to criminal justice.
Tapply’s series began in 1984 and there are over twenty titles on that list. Coyne is still going strong and will return in a new mystery, Hell Bent, in September.
More on the "mysterious" Northeast: NPR Morning Edition has started up another series of Crime in the City. Last week's program was Parker Explores The Shadows Of Boston's Back Bay, a tour of Spenser's turf, and this morning's feature was Maine-Line Murder In Sarah Graves' Eastport, the home base for the Home Repair Is Homicide series.
Next week host Andrea de Leon will take us South to the Big Easy and a visit with Julie Smith, author of two New Orleans series, the Talba Wallis and Skip Langdon mysteries.
