Customer Reviews

Death and Honesty (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries)

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

 

 

If the first seven novels in this series were your cup of tea, you'll like what Victoria Trumbull brewed in her cook room with this one, too. People who live in small towns are fond of saying "but things like this never happen around here" when they hear of murder and other kinds of wrong doing. They usually react that way when the awful thing that triggered the comment just happened there in plain view. West Tisbury is just like small town USA everywhere in that regard. Thank goodness we have Victoria and Casey to keep the roads hot with the police Bronco and the bad guys and girls on the run. As usual, the catchy title is the name of a Vineyard plant or flower I never heard of.

I read every wonderful Philip Craig Vineyard mystery at least three times and now I find myself repeating that with Cynthia Riggs' excellent books. I never had the pleasure of coming into Vineyard Haven on the ferry but Riggs makes me believe I did.

Nonagenarian Martha Vineyard deputy police officer Victoria Trumbull finds the corpse of widow Lucy Pease in the home of assessor Ellen Meadows, who is away. Victoria also finds property cards containing tax information that should never have been removed from city hall.

She makes a few inquiries and soon begins to find circumstantial evidence that the three town assessors and their clerk are pulling a scam to skim money from property tax payments by placing a "personal surcharge" on many owners. She also learns that the clerk Oliver Ashpine is planning to extort money through a usury property tax from TV star Delilah Sampson, who owns island property and has a scandalous past long buried. Two more corpses are found as Victoria with the help of Emery Meyer continues her investigation.

The latest Martha's Vineyard police procedural mystery (see SHOOTING STAR) is a strong entry that combines the solid investigative wok of ninety-two year old Victoria with a wonderful look at the islanders. Victoria is at her best as she begins to unravel a tax fraud that has led to murder. Series fans will enjoy DEATH AND HONESTY as the feisty heroine follows the clues while escorting the awed audience around Martha's Vineyard.

Harriet Klausner

Victoria Turnbull, the favorite 92 year-old sleuth teams up with Emery Meyer for a delightful turn at detecting in DEATH AND HONESTY by Cynthia Riggs.
Three bodies turn up when a property owner complains about her excessive tax bill and the property evaluators are caught with their fingers in the community's funds.
The sly dry wit of Victoria and her friend Howland will keep you turning the pages and coming back for more. A must read for any island mystery or cozy mystery fan.
Nash Black, author of Indie finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS.

I have never been to Martha's Vineyard, though I have long wanted to visit. Reading Cynthia Riggs' book gave me a sense of what the Island (always capitalized) is like, and now I want to visit more than ever.

I quite enjoyed several aspects of this book. First, I loved 92-year-old Victoria Trumbull as a no-nonsense, decidedly non-cozy New Englander. The characterization felt real to me; Victoria doesn't work at being "quirky," or "feisty," or "wacky," or any of those other stereotypes generally thrown at the elderly. She's well connected but doesn't know everyone on the Island. (I thought that was a particularly nice touch, as I can imagine that most people think, "Oh, everyone on Martha's Vineyard knows everyone else, of course." Or what I call the "Three Pines Syndrome.") Finally, as one who feels taxed to death, I quite liked the casting of the town's property tax assessors as the villains they generally are. The pacing is pleasant, the characters charming but not treacly. And there are a couple of nice red herrings and subplots.

That said, the assessors themselves are a little over the top and strain the boundaries of believability. I also never quite figured out the relationship between Delilah and her husband, or what exactly "Darcy's" role is in the book. (I sense that he is a recurring character, but he seems misplaced here, except perhaps as a suspect.) Honestly, I thought the title was a bit hokey when I first picked up the book, but it does make sense once you've completed the book (and relies on double meaning). Overall, a pleasant read - a bit slow to start, but quite enjoyable once you're into it.

this one, I'm sad to say, disappointed me. It felt to me as though Ms. Riggs was instructed by her editors to "tighten up" her narrative--leaving out background, back story, and "illumination" of characters and place that I enjoyed in her previous books (not that there was a lot of this in her previous books...but there was at least some detail and description of the island and its weather and flora). This book is all tight dialogue and bare plot line. It is definitely interesting and I do look forward to her next one...hoping she will give us a little more of the island, the people, and the flora next time.

Despite a warning that the plant honesty is invasive, protagonist Victoria Trumbull decides to plant some anyway. The truth eventually comes out in Cynthia Riggs' latest Martha's Vineyard mystery, Death and Honesty. At age 92, Victoria settles for nothing less than the truth. In this mystery, she finds a dead body in the home of one of the town's assessors. The assessors concocted a scheme to skim funds from taxpayers, and Victoria uncovers their fraud with dispatch. Murders and poisoning follow, and Victoria remains on top of everything, tying up all the threads by the book's end. While I guessed the murderer's identity early in the book, Riggs kept my interest throughout this entertaining novel. Victoria Trumbull is the senior citizen we all want to become: vibrant in our nineties; mental faculties intact and then some; munching on bacon for breakfast; and sloshing down a stiff drink with friends. Sit in your beach chair or porch rocker with a cold drink and enjoy reading Death and Honesty.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

I purchased this for a friend at her request. She was disappointed with the book.
If it makes any difference, she had no problem with the time it took to purchase the book or the cost.