Vineyard Blues
Former Boston Police officer, JW Jackson is retired from the
business of busting the bad guys, but he finds himself doing
constant freelance detective work on the island of Martha's
Vineyard...part of the United States, but a world away at the
same time. The idylic is home to lots of mystery, which
brings in the money for JW, who no longer has a steady job,
choosing to make his money by fishing, a sport he lives for,
taking part in the activity anytime he can.
JW's wife Zee works as a nurse at one of the local
hospitals. They have two children, Diana and Joshua.
They're a very simple family. They're close, there are very
few big arguments, their kids are polite. They don't even
own a color TV- just a small black and white set they use to
watch baseball games every now and then. They drink
martinis on the balcony, and they have dinners of fish and
complicated sounding seafood dishes that JW cooks, being the chef
of the family. It's a laid back life for JW, when he's not
busy working on solving the newest Vineyard mystery, that is.
In Vineyard Blues, Corrie Appleyard, an old blues musician friend
of JW's father, shows up in town...playing two local gigs and
looking for his old friend Jackson. JW's father has passed
away, but he invites Corrie to dinner, since he hasn't seen him
since he was a child. JW and Zee attend the two local gigs
and have Corrie over for drinks.
Zee's friend Suzanna Quick needs JW's help. When she was
young, she acted in some adult films, and now someone is making
calls to the house, someone who knows the character she used to
play, and talking about things very few people should know.
Quick is now married and her and her husband run a construction
company...plus, he's very religious, and she's afraid this might
ruin their marriage, so she needs JW to find out who is making
the calls and put an end to it.
JW is also approached by local slum lord, Ben Krane...a
businessman who owns a bunch of rundown houses that he rents to
college kids, overcharging them big time. Problem is-
someone is burning the houses down...probably someone angry at
Krane for his shady, but legal, business dealings. JW
thinks Krane is a scumbag, and wants no part of it, but- he could
use the money, so he takes the job and tries to find out who is
burning the houses down.
A story of sexual predators, arson, and possible murder- Blues is
a fine addition to the Martha's Vineyard book series by author,
Philip R. Craig.
This book is fairly short- tho none of the books in the series
are all that long. This is the third book I have read from
the series, and so far, it's not my favorite- but I thoroughly
enjoyed it nontheless. Jackson is an interesting
character...not really mind kind of guy- simple fisherman who
doesn't own a TV, seems to not believe in God, and he doesn't
seem to share the same values I do, but he's entertaining despite
all of that. I'm usually a fan of the more modern, bigger
city, hipper detectives, but JW is a fine character and the book
series is really nice in the way it mixes the various villages of
the island, the culture, fishing, the ocean, mystery and
food. It has an original flare to it that's hard to
explain.
JW and Zee are a nice couple to read about, and the mysteries he
tries to solve aren't too complex, but they're not out in the
open clear either.
My only complaints from the series so far are- the kids who always call their parents 'ma' and 'pa'- it's enough to drive you up the wall. Also, the relationship between Zee and JW, tho interesting to read about, is somewhat stretched in the reality department. They bug me for some reason...some of the time. Also- if the author calls the daughter "Diana the Huntress" again or talks about how "the huntress" is always on "the prowl,' I will scream. Everytime I read that, for some reason, I can't help but laugh, because it so- for lack of a better word- lame. Overall, it's a good series from what I have read...and I plan on reading the other books in the series, but there are a few things that bug me, as I mentioned.