Customer Reviews

Third Strike: A Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson Mystery (Thorndike Mystery)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The drivers who operate the ferry entering and leaving Martha's Vineyard are on strike stranding vacationers who have to pay higher prices for goods and services. The first death having to do with the strike is Eduardo Alvarez who got killed when he supposedly blew up the Trident that was crewed with scabs. Alvarez's wife tells Zee Jackson that her husband was a militant pacifist who would have nothing to do with blowing up things. Zee asks her husband detective J. W. to investigate what really happened.

In Boston, lawyer Brady Coyne gets a call from client Larry Bucyck asking him to come to the Vineyard because he needs help. When he gets there, Brady is shown a house where Larry saw a boat running without lights unloading crates and the men were carrying uzis. Brady sleeps over at Larry's house and the next morning leaves the house with his client still sleeping. When he returns, Larry is gone; he finds him in the pigpen, a bullet in his body and obvious signs of torture on the corpse. Brady stays at the home of his friend sleuth J.W. The two men working separately realize both investigations are linked by terrorists who have the same goal. Now J. W. and Brady have to figure out the logistics, the target and the location and then stop them using deadly force if necessary.

Due to the recent death of Phillip R. Craig this is probably the last J.W. Jackson-Brady Coyne collaboration, but this superb tale pays homage to the great author. Readers will feel the loss because this was an exceptional series and THIRD STRIKE is a fantastic who done it. The regional mystery captures the ambience of Martha's Vineyard and makes readers aware that not all who live on the island are rich. The natives who live there year round get much of their bounty from the sea. The pairing of Brady Coyne and J.W. Jackson is well done as each brings something special to the investigation.

Harriet Klausner

J. W. Jackson is used to having his wife Zee pushing him to stay out of the deaths and other mysteries that occur on Martha's Vineyard. But, this time, when Eduardo Alverez is killed by an explosion in the engine room of the car and passenger ferry Trident, Zee feels differently. Eduardo may have been a striker but he was also by all accounts a quiet, hard working devoted family man who had no enemies. While the ferry strike continues unabated, Eduardo leaves behind a wife and child full of pain and heartache. Daddy isn't coming home and the police seem to have decided that since he was a striker, he was planting a bomb that just went off earlier than intended. With a little nudge from Zee, J. W. Jackson gets to poking around in the case.

It also doesn't take much convincing to get J. W. to help his old friend Brady Coyne. Coyne is a Boston attorney who has been contacted by one of his clients. The client also lives on Martha's Vineyard and has witnessed strange happenings in the middle of the night at an isolated dock. Men with automatic guns, large crates, and small boats running without their lights seem to indicate trouble but the nature of the trouble is unknown.

Coyne and Jackson begin poking around separately and soon find that their cases are linked. It leads them on a wild chase and a thrilling, though totally unbelievable climax, at one of the island's airstrips.

This is the fundamental problem with this novel. Since this is the third joint book, as well as the latest in a long series by each author, one does not expect sudden character revelations or some abrupt shift in character development. These are well established characters with long histories that aren't about to change. One does expect the plot to make sense. Especially with regards to terrorism these days and it doesn't come close.

Instead, the novel relies on a Hollywood B movie style ending in the big climax that just doesn't work. As such, any reader mildly aware of anything the last few years is apt to lose all suspension of disbelief. Savvy readers may find themselves laughing uncontrollably or launching the book across the room in a fit of annoyance. Either is possible and somebody should have addressed the issue long before the book saw print.

One wonders if this is a case where the author's prestigious names and body of work overruled any editorial considerations regarding the logic of the ending. Or maybe somebody thought Hollywood, where bad guys miss despite emptying clip after clip at the hero, will come calling with their big bucks. Either way, what up until the end had been a fairly good read, was destroyed by ludicrous sheer implausibility.

The authors can and usually do better. It is sad that this time that didn't happen.


Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008

Philip Craig's character, J.W. Jackson, lives on Martha's Vineyard where a strike has halted the ferries from crossing over to "America". A man is killed in a boat explosion and police assume that the man was trying to blow up the boat. J.W. is asked by the man's widow to investigate and to prove that her husband died innocently and accidentally. Meanwhile William Tapply's character, Brady Coyne, is called by one of his former clients to come to the Vineyard and help him with a problem. Brady is transported to the island by his old friend J.W., and they soon find that their two cases are related.

Craig and Tapply were close friends when Craig was alive, and their collaboration is smooth and seamless. They write alternate chapters from their characters' point of view and the result is a well-told tale of mystery with the wonderful background of Martha's Vineyard. J.W. is devoted to his wife Zee and his children, as Brady is to his girlfriend, Evie, which adds a refreshing dimension to this book. The world lost a good writer when Philip Craig died, but fortunately his many fans have this book and another one, "Vineyard Chill", to look forward to in June.

In this, the third entry in the Brady Coyne/J.W. Jackson adventures, after the earlier "First Light" and "Second Sight," Brady has been called to Martha's Vineyard, where J.W. presently makes his home. Larry Bucyck, a client who he hasn't heard from in years calls him when he fears his life is in danger, and implores Brady to help him. J.W.'s help is enlisted when the steamship strike on the island has idled the ferries which are virtually the only way to get to the island from what they term America [i.e., the mainland].

J.W. has his own problems: His wife, Zeolinda ["Zee"], has prevailed upon him to investigate the death of her friend's husband, who is believed to have died while trying to blow up the engine room of a boat, all part of the growing tensions arising from the strike. It soon appears that two men have died from seeing what they should not have seen, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is not apparent at first in what manner these two threads will come together, but the reader knows it will happen at some point and in some way as the book progresses. The tale moves at a measured pace, unhurriedly, much as life itself does on a summer's day in Martha's Vineyard, I imagine, and with equal pleasure.

The authors alternate chapters with their respective protagonists moving the plot along, Mr. Craig's JW Jackson, the former Boston cop and Vietnam vet, happily married after ten years and with two young children. The steamship company has till now been the only viable lifeline between the Vineyard and America; now men are using their own boats, making two, three trips a day, ferrying eight cars at a time, and it was just such a boat that was destroyed in the attempted torching which resulted in the man's death. There are others who are making good money during the strike, ferrying people and cars and freight night and day, for whom the strike is a boon. Meanwhile Brady, who describes himself as a wills and estates lawyer from Boston and a trout fisherman, must find out who killed his former friend and client, who he describes as a "shy, private guy, living like Thoreau down there in the Menemsha woods. He said he just wants to be left alone," an innocent enough man who had managed to find a simple life on his own. Had indeed "carved out a little Walden for himself in a patch of woods on Martha's Vineyard, how he raised chickens and pigs...how he built stone sculptures that I guessed would stand there for eons, the Stonehenge of future generations..." The island at the moment is inundated with "pilgrims who came seeking the Promised Land, found it, and now can't leave because of the strike. The gods are Jesters." "The island cops were already stretched thin by the strike and by Larry Bucyck's murder, to say nothing of maintaining law and order among 100,000 August people who were rowdier than usual because they didn't like being trapped, even though they were trapped in Eden."

It would appear that the first man's death wasn't a suicide and that moreover there is a plot afoot with very sinister implications which Brady's client may have stumbled upon. These two authors, who were also great friends with a common love of the natural world, fishing and the Boston Red Sox, have put together a seamless, well-written and suspenseful book, with the personalities of their protagonists blending into a well-oiled machine that gets done that which it must, never losing sight of the women they love or their love for the beauty of their surroundings and their fishing. The writing is wonderful. Mr. Craig's J.W., at the end of a tense day, waiting for Mr. Brady to return: "'I imagine Brady's fine,' I lied. I felt I was on the lip of the Void, ready to fall. We sat close together in the fading evening light and looked out over the gray waters of Nantucket Sound where the sailboats were easing toward harbor under the low dark sky. In spite of the sultry summer heat, the earth seemed without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. What had become of Brady?" And Mr. Tapply's Brady, confronting one of the `bad guys: "Harry Doyle ignored me. He hunched his shoulder, squinted his eye, peered through the sight on his weapon, and tracked it across the sky above us like a skeet shooter wringing on a high-flying clay pigeon."

I particularly enjoyed J.W.'s query to Mr. Brady: "Maybe we can bring Stoney Calhoun down from Maine. He's as good as [Sam] Spade." Brady gave me a blank look. "Who's Stoney Calhoun?" "I'm not absolutely sure, and neither is he." Calhoun is, of course, another uniquely Wm. Tapply creation. These words by Mr. Craig particularly spoke to me: "Above us, the innocent blue sky held clouds whiter than newborn lambs, and the sun shone down onto a world that should have been devoid of murder." Sadly, it is a voice we will hear no more. That is the last collaboration between these two esteemed writers, and the end of their friendship as well, as Mr. Craig recently passed away. But this is a book that can be enjoyed on many levels: It is suspenseful, yet evocative of beautiful scenes of island life, beauty and leisure. [Actually, the authors had me before page one, with quotes from both Milton's Paradise Lost and Yogi Berra.]

When Philip R. Craig and William G. Tapply team up, there's bound to be a good yarn. Third Strike is an exceptional collaboration by two mystery writers at the top of their game.

Martha's Vineyard is isolated by a strike involving the ferries. The August visitors can't get off the island with their cars except by paying outrageous prices to private boats. Food and fuel are running low, and tempers are running high. One of the private boats is blown up and one of the striking workers is found in the wreckage. Everyone assumes that this was an act of sabotage that went wrong. One of J.W. Jackson's children knows the daughter of the dead man, and the mother asks J.W.'s wife, Zee, for help in clearing her husband's name. J.W. reluctantly agrees but finds few leads.

Meanwhile, Brady Coyne is enjoying August in Boston with Evie in the back yard when an old client calls and begs Brady to come to Martha's Vineyard immediately. Brady can't get any answers out of the client on the telephone but is sure the man is scared. Because of the strike, Brady asks J.W. for help in getting to the Vineyard. J.W. agrees to pick Brady up in his boat, and they begin to share stories. Heading off in Zee's Wrangler, Brady is fascinated by Larry Bucyck's rock sculptures. Larry himself proves to have become a hermit who has a fascinating story to tell.

Events quicken when Larry's story gains credibility after an unexpected act of violence. J.W. finds that he's pursuing a secret so dangerous that people are willing to be violent to keep it.

As the story develops, the pace and action get faster and faster. By involving the two lead characters, there's also room for much more dialog and shared detection. The combination works well.

For fishing lovers, the two authors provide lots of bait and schools of interest to whet your taste for the deep sea fishing. There's even a good fictional Red Sox story in the book. Those who love the Vineyard will be pleased to revisit their favorite haunts.

I thought that the result was the best novel involving Brady Coyne that I've read in over a decade.

Don't miss this one!

This book is the final collaboration between Philip R. Craig and William H. Tappley. Brady Coyne and J.W. Jackson jump right into their seemingly individual investigations only to soon find, as usual, they are closely linked. Following each of their actions is as easy as ever. Chapters alternate between Brady and J.W. but you don't ever get confused which character you are reading. The action is fast paced and "edge of your seat" exciting. Set in my favorite location, Martha's Vineyard, the action begins for J.W. with a plea from his wife, Zee to help a friend clear her husband's name. For Brady, back in America, it begins with a phone call from a long-ago client who begs him to come to Marha's Vineyard to help him. The first problem for Brady is how does he get there? All the ferrymen are on strike. You won't regret buying this book but beware...it isn't a book you want to read right before you go to sleep. It is too exciting to put down and kept me up much past my bedtime. Sadly, both these talented writers are gone now but this is a lovely tribute to their writing talents.

This is a combination J.W. Jackson and Brady Coyne mystery. It has alternating chapters by the two authors as the two characters alternate in leading roles. J.W. Jackson takes on the case of investigating the death of the father of his daughter's friend. Brady Coyne is called to Martha's Vineyard by an old client who is frightened by something he has witnessed. The events become intermeshed as J.W. and Brady investigate the two cases and become involved in some amount of violence. Evil people have something planned, and don't want anyone getting in their way.

The novel was published after the death of Philip Craig, so this is the last mingling of the characters.

Philip Craig and William Tapply did an amazing job of coordinating details and plot lines in the alternating chapter style of this series. One brief criticism for Mr Tapply however ... I notice J. W.'s character harden a bit during the "Brady" chapters. Otherwise, a great collaboration.

This book starts with two apparently separate mysteries ... J.W. with the boat explosion, and Brady with the former baseball player/hermit. Of course, the mysteries blend, sending our heroes together into a great combined effort to save Martha's Vineyard and a VIP to be named later(lol). The adventure level is high, as always, but they didn't have as much time to go fishing as usual.

I am sad that Philip Craig's series has ended. Mr Tapply, could you continue J.W. for us, in tribute to your friend? Just a thought.

I will surely miss books by Philip R. Craig. He was superb at blending mystery, family life, and scenery in his Martha Vineyard series. This book, one of the collaboration mysteries with William Tapply, was typical of his work - a fun, enjoyable read.

I am sad that Philip Craig passed away last year. Not only do I LOVE all his JW Jackson books, but he and Bill Tapply had a really great set of books started. This is book 3 and, sadly, the final one in this short series. But, I love and own them all, and can't wait for Phil's upcoming JW book to be published this June. Thank you Phil and Bill, for all the wonderful hours I have spent with your two heroes.