Customer Reviews

Off Season

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book has animal rights protestors vs hunters, a gangster connection, a shady politician, sexual peccadillos, romance among a widow and widower, and kittens. Snow is falling all over the island during Christmas season, and Nash Cortez is stirring up trouble with the animal rights protectors. Later, a dead body is found, and our hero is hired by the girlfriend of the deceased to find the killer. He warns her, she might not like what he finds... a premonition of what is to come. This book was full of enjoyable aspects, and every chapter was a pleasure to read. As with all of Philip Craig's books, you will work up an appetite salivating over the food descriptions too. Thumbs up!

This mystery series is ivery very good. I think that they are almost as good as the Dirk Pitt series. Anyone who is a fan of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series will like them or anyone who grew up reading and liking Nancy Drew/The Hardy Boys will like them. I sugest the series for those who have outgrown the Hardy boys or read all of the series and are looking for a new good mystery series to read.

L LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THESE BOOKS!!!!! A very dear friend introduced me to this marvelous series a couple of months ago and i'm completely, totalllllly addicted!!! i think it would be great to have a recipe section at the end of each book...i'd love to try j.w.'s bluefish pate! as i was reading the earlier fantabulous books, i wondered how martha's vineyard would be 'off season' and lo and behold, that was the very next book in the pile to read....never, ever stop writing about j.w. and zee and their crazy adventures....i'd love to have this great couple as next door neighbors!!!! thanx for so many wonderful hours savoring the incredible descriptions of places and recipes!!!!! i'm simply thrilled that i have 3 more books of this fun series in order to catch up to the present!!!! and when i'm reading something else, i actuallly miss j.w. and zee....crazy, huh???

I lived on Martha's Vineyard for several years year-round, during the bustling summers and what is known as the "off season." Philip R. Craig's novel captures perfectly the sense of community that year-round Islanders enjoy. He also gives a realistic account about how everyone knows everyone else's business in a closely-knit environment. His characters Mimi and Nash are true to life. His descriptions about how people eke out a living scallopping and fishing in the off-season are also quite accurate. Craig also mixes into his cast of characters a few professional and business people, and their interaction with the native Islanders is key to his story. The suspense in "Off Season" is great, and I could not guess the outcome until the final pages of the book. I also love this book because it contains so many evocative passages about Martha's Vineyard. I feel like I am living there again when I read Craig's (a/k/a J.W. Jackson's) descriptions of my beloved Island. I know every secluded beach and back road about which he writes. When he writes about Wasque Point, I can almost see the sun setting westward over the beach in the late afternoon and feel the salty spray on my face from the crashing waves. Reading this book was like taking another vacation on the Vineyard!

If you love the Vineyard at any time of year you'll love these books. The mysteries are passably good. The description of the island, its inhabitants and their lifestyles are right on. My wife and I took a bus tour there using the local public transportation. One could get off and back on as many times as one would like. Advisable to have a schedule though with the different routes so you can time your rides without lengthy waits. During the excursion, listening to several of the natives I was struck by how well the late Philip Craig portrayed them. Clamming and Fishing are elevated to religions there. Most if not all the driveways are sandy and you do indeed have to pay to go to the bathroom at Aquinnah. All in all I've enjoyed all of the books even though the revelations about the murderers are well spaced out as opposed to in a shocking conclusion. The Kennedy Effect

This is the fifth book in the late Philip Craig's Martha's Vineyard mystery series. I'm now marching through them in order (type of guy). Though each has a separate plot, of course, they do not really need individual reviews --- as the style, virtues and shortcomings are all remarkably consistent.

The books are in the hard-boiled detective genre, and the hero, J.W. Jackson, is a poor man's Philip Marlowe, sharing his wise-cracking, tough-guy, literary-and-intelligent-but-without-airs, independent-personal-moral-code characteristics, the one difference being that Jackson finds true love.

It is no insult, of course, to note that author Craig is no Raymond Chandler, and, as hard-boiled mysteries go, these are fairly tepid stuff, good enough to keep you turning the pages, but completely forgettable as mysteries.

What makes the books wonderful for me is the loving, detailed, depiction of Martha's Vineyard. Craig, like his protagonist, became a year-round islander, and he describes all aspects of the Vineyard -- its people, its places, its rhythms -- with perfect accuracy and appreciation. Anyone who loves the Vineyard will be transported by these aspects of the books. I'm afraid others may be left cold. This is the kind of a book where the character can be making a routine meal, on a routine day in his Vineyard home and suddenly declare "Fat City!" with joy at these simple pleasures. Such writing would make me roll my eyes, if I didn't know exactly how he felt. As it is, I simply sigh with pleasure.

So, on to book six, and thank you Mr. Craig.

"Off Season" (1994) is another soft-boiled detective mystery in Philip R. Craig's series about Martha's Vineyard (there are nineteen books in all) featuring J.W. Jackson, ex-Boston cop. I've been to the island several times, and Craig's intimate and detailed knowledge of the place brings back memories. At times Craig is a little too cutesy wootsie for my tastes (the bits about the kittens and his matchmaking are cloying). J. W. (Jefferson), the narrator, has many handyman jobs and his main interest seems to be as a foodie, eating and cooking; the author goes into great detail about food preparation and menus. Often he's hunting, oystering, scalloping, fishing, a lot of outdoor stuff on the Vineyard in winter.

He's called upon to do some amateur sleuthing when a man with a seamy past is murdered with an arrow. A Providence gangster shows up and detracts from the plot. J.W. goes around without a detective's license interrogating suspects, and they tell him an awful lot, more than is credible for my money.

It's so full of Island lore and local color that it seems intended to whet the appetites of future Vineyard visitors or satisfy those who know the place.

J.W.'s romance with Zee is an important part of the narrative. The story starts off with a battle between the animal rights people and the hunters. Characterization is not one of Craig's strong points, and some elements of his plotting seem phony. Blackmail and kinky sex figure in the plot.

People on Vineyard beaches and elsewhere may find this a relaxing read that certainly won't overtax their minds, but they may have difficulty when it comes to the credulity test. The background Vineyard stuff is very authentic though, and J.W.'s cozy lifestyle may lull them into a state of forgiveness.

I've read most of philip craig's books....they all take place on Martha's vineyard........a beautiful place to visit..............I know quite abit of places that he talks about in the book

Story was a bit bland and took me awhile to get read. Just wasn't a book I couldn't put down. The dry humor was good though.

A light mystery read that takes place in Marthas Vineyard. The tale starts showly with a lot of local color and character background. Once the mystery finally took off, the book was a more engaging read. I've been to Marthas Vineyard and the author truly knows the area. Overall, a charming and enjoyable book.