Customer Reviews

A Deadly Vineyard Holiday (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The sleuth lives a lifestyle I relish and admire. An ex-cop living on Martha's Vinyard spendind his days fishing, digging for clams, and walking the beach. His nights are spent with his beautiful wife, sipping on cold Sam Adams while watching the sun go down over the Nantucket sound. Everthing is how it should be until they're asked to hide the President's daughter from would be assasins. The plot is nothing special, but "Craig's" descriptions of Island Living and contentment made me wish I was in a hammock with an ale in my belly. Craig will take ten pages to describe the beauty of the shore at sunrise while you're fishing for Bluefish, "oh by the way, the killer is in his car watching from across the street". A wonderful lazy-day read.

Philip Craig has written a good book. It is one of a series and this is the only one that I have read.

This mystery involves the daughter of he President of the United States who just happens to meet the hero of the story on the beach, and then in his truck, and then in his home.

The mysteries go on from there but you will find that it is very readable and interesting.

I enjoyed it.

J. Robert Ewbank, author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

Nice easy transaction, book was in better condition than described. Highly recommend this seller.

I've read nearly all of the Vineyard series, and they've all been fairly enjoyable...J.W. is an interesting enough character (even if he is sometimes sort of lame), and the descriptions of the Vineryard are nice, even tho I've never been anywhere near the island myself. They all have somewhat elementary plotlines, and they usually hold up to any scrutiny- unfortunately, this isn't one of them.

We're supposed to buy the premise that ol' J.W. is fishing and up comes the president's daughter, and then we're supposed to buy the plotline that the daughter comes and stays with J.W. and Zee for the week? Come on, this is just a little TOO absurd.

While in danger throughout the novel, we're supposed to buy into the premise that they take time to go to the beach and hang out as if nothing is wrong? J.W. says to the president's daughter- sure, you can go out anywhere you want, we'll tell everyone you're my cousin named Debby, and we'll hide your true identity with some makeup and a big floppy hat and some glasses!

Even when the president's daughter knows she's in danger, she acts as if nothing is wrong- 'hey, forget this danger stuff, let's go meet the boy I met and go to the beach!' And J.W. is quick to say- sure, why not...let's forget the danger we're all in and go to the beach, I'm sure nothing could ever happen to us there.

It's all too absurd to buy into (even the reasoning revealed at the end is laughable), which hurts the book a little, but as I said, overall it was enjoyable. It's a fairly quick read, so I guess that helped.

For the series overall, I just HAVE to point out a few aspects that bug me to death when I read any of the books in the series...
The one plus to this book is the fact that J.W. and Zee haven't yet had kids (trust me, read the other books and tell me the kids aren't totally annoying, and they completely make J.W. lame as a tough guy/semi-detective)- I get SO sick and tired of reading Craig's annoying line that exists in EVERY book with the kids- "Diana, the huntress" is always looking for food, or whatever he says exactly. And, sometimes you just want to scream when you hear lame lines from J.W. like- "yum!" "manna from heaven!: and "delish!" every 2 seconds. He seems to be a semi-cool guy one second, then the next second you want to slap him.

All of that, and you have to continually wonder how on earth J.W. makes enough money to do nothing but fish, sail his boat, loaf around, and make his lavish dinners.lunches/breakfasts, I can assure you that no police pension allows for the laid back, never worry about money lifestyle Jackson lives.

This is the first of several Craig books that I have read. Walking down the street in my hometown of Washington, DC, I saw the book in the window of a local bookstore that specializes in Mystery Books. Needing a new book, and being a regular Vineyarder since I was a toddler, I decided to buy it. The book is rich with Vineyard references, many of which will only be fully understood by those of us who frequent or live on the island. The problem with this, as with the rest of Craig's books is that I have found myself reading his work only because it is set on Martha's Vineyard. The storylines often vary between unbelievable and uninteresting. The dialogue is downright awful and incredibly trite. Still, Craig has a Grisham-esque ability to make you turn the pages. The plot is simple enough to follow, without being idiotic, even if you have to strech to believe both that a retired Boston cop would be entrusted with the care of a president's daughter over the Secret Service, and the reason for it, which you'll need to read, otherwise it's a major spoiler.

J.W. Jackson meets a teenage girl on the beach while fishing for bluefish. The girl is fascinated by the fine art of fishing and J.W. teaches her to land his catch and makes a new friend.
But the friend is the daughter of president of the United States who is eluding her Secret Service watchdogs. Cricket Callahan has been receiving threating letters for over a year, which began during the first family's previous vacation stay on the island.
J.W. and Zee end up with two Virginia cousins who want to taste all the delights of the island as private citizens. It takes some suspicious questions and fancy moves for J.W. and his bride to provide for their sudden quests.
As usual Philip R. Craig gave his fans an enjoyable read full of allisions, crime detection, and island lore.
Nash Black, author of Indie finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS.

The President and family are vacationing on the Vineyard. But the President's daughter is itching to get away from the formalities of her life, and wants to be a regular teenager. Upon shedding her Secret Service protection, she meets JW fishing on the beach and strikes up a friendship. Then she hides in the back of his Land Cruiser after her agents show up, and manages to invade stately Jefferson manor. Soon, JW works out a deal with the Secret Service to give her a Roman holiday, but danger is of course, around the corner. JW gets the sniff that someone on the inside is not on the up and up. And a mysterious photographer is snooping around JW's house. JW has a mystery to solve, while he takes it upon himself to do the job the Secret Service can't do, protect the President's daughter.

This is a fun read, another excellent entry in the Vineyard series.