Jack In The Pulpit: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Cynthia Riggs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 23, 2004

While Martha's Vineyard police chief Casey O'Neill is still trying to win acceptance from the Islanders, a church sexton dies suddenly from what is believed to be natural causes. But when other elderly citizens begin to die unexpectedly, it's apparent that there's a serial killer abroad. Casey has plenty of experience with homicide in the big city, but it takes ninety-two-year-old Victoria Trumbull to realize that food gifts are the murder weapons.

Available only in Americana 4 and 5.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fall is a splendid season on Martha's Vineyard, with spectacular views of land and sea in the ever-changing light. The sudden death of four people in one month, all parishioners at the same church, however, upsets the island's tranquility. In Riggs's absorbing fourth Vineyard mystery (after 2003's Cemetery Yew), Victoria Trumbull, the wise and sprightly nonagenarian island native, is caught in the middle of a jealous battle between the new minister and the retiring minister (both named Jack) at the community church. The ministers' wives are spreading gossip about the four deceased, all of whom provided handsomely for the church. If Victoria's granddaughter, a fugitive from a vengeful and abusive husband, adds to her worries, Victoria can take solace in her developing friendship with the new, city-bred police chief. A complex, well-paced plot, involving a never-mentioned grandparent, an auto accident, a dead seagull and a basket of mushrooms, comes to a neat resolution. A sensitive observer of the scene, Riggs writes with warmth and humor about all-too-human characters with whom readers can readily identify.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In this fourth installment in her Victoria Trumbull series, Riggs offers a kind of prequel that explains why Victoria's granddaughter, Elizabeth, first came to live with her 92-year-old grandmother, and how Victoria became a deputy for the West Tisbury police. While the town's old and new ministers--both named Jack--try to forge a positive relationship, West Tisbury's residents are dropping like flies. Four people die within a short time, and all appear to have eaten gifts of food. New police chief Casey O'Neill relies on Victoria, who knows the town and everyone in it, to help her figure out what's going on. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is stalked by her psychotic ex-husband, and Victoria is feuding with the "Meals on Wheels" driver with whom she had a fender-bender. Readers who appreciate Riggs' incorporation of the flora and fauna of Martha's Vineyard into her stories will be pleased that this tale also features evocative descriptions of island plants and birds. This pleasant trip back in time will give Victoria's fans a better appreciation of the notable nonagenarian. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (August 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786267240
• ISBN-13: 978-0786267248
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,027,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Victoria Trumbull is amazing, August 2, 2004

By 

Dan Blankenship "Author of THE RUNNING GIRL" (Lowell, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack in the Pulpit (Hardcover)

Cynthia Riggs delivers one of the those rare novels that manages to combine a great story with a descriptive writing style. Too many narratives that provide vivid imagery to the surrounding environment, in which their story takes place, lose the emphasis on plot development.

The main character (Victoria Trumbull) in this fine work is a ninety-two-year-old resident of West Tisbury (Martha's Vineyard Mystery Series) with a sharp mind and a lot of attitude. I found myself enjoying Victoria's character development throughout the entire novel. She reminded me of so many people I have met over the years. Her stubbornness and bluntness make her a character who you enjoy learning more about. I think we all have a little of Victoria Trumbull in all of us.

There are three things I look for in a novel; this one has all three:

#1. A great entry. Jack in the Pulpit does that on page one. Bravo to Cynthia Riggs! A first few paragraphs that grab you into the story, and she didn't have to rely on profanity, sex, or a disgusting murder scene on that first page to do so. If your not sure what I am talking about - go to the best-seller fiction rack and look at the first pages of most of the novels. They usually have the "F" word, a murder, or a graphic sexual comment on the first page; not all of them, but a LOT of them.

2. Characters who you would love to meet in person - if they were actually real. Riggs manages to do that with a lot of the characters in this novel. There are a few characters that needed a bit more development (e.g. Victoria's artistic renters), but for the most part, this novel does a great job of character development.

3. Keeping the story moving along while it grabs the reader into the surrounding environment. I have a hard time reading anything by Charles Dickens because his writing becomes so descriptive that the story-line disappears inside a honeycomb of surroundings. By the time some authors finish describing a room, you forget why the protagonist entered the room in the first place. I believe Cynthia Riggs has found the perfect balance in her writing. I can picture the surroundings without forgetting why it is important to the story.

I don't want to give away the plot of this fictional work by going into too much detail, but it is a murder-mystery that has more than one story going on at a time. Victoria's granddaughter, Elizabeth, comes to stay with her after her marriage heads south. People in West Tisbury begin to die (no I'm not telling you more about that) and Police Chief Casey Casey O'Neill is forced to except Victoria's theory that someone is actually murdering certain citizens of the normally quite town.

Riggs vivid, verbal paintings of the beautiful surroundings in the backdrop of this story are second to none. Got to give this author her PROPS, she can be brilliant.

If you love to read, and you love to read a good detective/murder-mystery, than this book is for you. You'll find Jack in the Pulpit to be a pleasure to read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Answers to Questions, July 31, 2004

By 

Carolyn O'Daly (Edgartown, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jack in the Pulpit (Hardcover)

Why did Elizabeth come back to the Island? How did Victoria become Casey's deputy? Why was Casey O'Neill chosen over Junior Norton for West Tisbury Police Chief?

If you're wondering why Cynthia Riggs' new book has all the answers, there is a simple explanation. Although Ms. Riggs fourth published book, it is actually the first Victoria Trumbull book she wrote. It was to be our introduction to `I don't envy anybody anything' Victoria and `We need locks on the doors' Casey and the events that led up to their symbiotic relationship. It was the genesis of the movable Greek Chorus, sometimes at Alley's, sometimes at the Art Cliff, she uses to sumarize the plot for her readers. Why was it not published first? You'd have to understand the whims of agents and editors for that answer.

Jack in the Pulpit is full of the timely or rather perennial topics Ms. Riggs likes to weave through her stories. Greed, gay romance, euthanasia and spousal abuse are the threads in this installment of murder and mayhem in West Tisbury. As usual, the book is liberally sprinkled with three dimensional characters, both good and evil; people, if you're an Islander, you might even know, or live next door to. The author knows the flora and fauna of the area and is able to pick and choose among readily available poisons; which is good when murder is afoot.

This is my favorite Victoria Trumbull story so far. I have to admit I like the idea of ministers with human frailties and deep dark secrets. The characters in Ms. Riggs books don't always get a satisfactory comeuppance but we can always hope for revenge the next time Victoria comes to tea.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jack in the Pulpit, August 27, 2006

By 

Cris Carl (Greenfield, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jack in the Pulpit (Hardcover)

Jack in the Pulpit is a "hole filler" for all of the Victoria Trumbull mysteries to come. References in all furture books point back to this one, so if you enjoy the series, this is one not to miss. While some of the premise of Riggs series is a tad unrealistic, her work is always a fun read with enjoyable characters. If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting Martha's Vineyard, where the series is based, you will soon crave a return trip as the island and its beauty and quirkyness is described so well. Jack in the Pulpit manages to weave lessons of domestic abuse within the storyline of mysterious deaths of parishioners. And as usual, everything is tied up neat as a bow at the end.