Customer Reviews

A Vineyard Killing

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

 

 

Recently selected as the monthly selection of the Good Morning America ® Book club, the fourteenth novel of the series picks up shortly after Vineyard Enigma. While this novel can be read separately from the series, those readers that read them in order from the very beginning will appreciate this novel more as several minor storylines are addressed.

March is still cold on Martha's Vineyard and the tourists haven't started arriving just yet. This year was no exception but things are already stirred up. The permanent residents are riled up and for very good reason. Real estate developer Donald Fox is attempting to buy up local property not because the owners want to sell, but because he has the bucks to make it happen. He wants to put a large package of land together and then sell that to someone else. If folks won't willingly sell for a fraction of what their land is worth, he will force court fights over the often-dubious land deeds. He thinks he can make a killing and does not care how he does it.

That is until J. W. Jackson and the lovely Zee watch from a local diner as shots are fired at Donald and his more humane brother, Paul. The shooter manages to get away in the blowing snow as Paul lies wounded in the street. Paul survives the attack and J.W. soon turns down the resulting job offer. He does not like Donald or his company and as a matter of principle wants nothing more to do with them. But soon, as he begins to investigate things on another unrelated matter, he finds that Donald and his company seem to be involved in everything and that J. W. has unwittingly made himself a target.

This is another very good book from Philip R. Craig. While no new ground is covered in regards to these characters, there are no unpleasant surprises either. Everyone is back in their usual roles and as always, a couple of recipes are found in the back of the book.

In a refreshing change from the last several novels, Joshua and Diana (the children) are not part of the investigation. Safely in school and off the printed page, they are not unrealistically taken to crime scenes as in recent novels. In fact, in direct contradiction to the last several novels, the children are hardly heard from at all.

In addition to all but eliminating the children, this novel is tightly plotted and moves at a better pace than the last several. Craig continues the use of two ongoing storylines that crossover and link to each other frequently throughout the novel and this practice works considerably better in this one. The action moves forward at a much better pace and the twin storylines have more depth than those in recent novels.

In short, this is a very good book and a definite step up from the last several. This one is more like the early ones in the series and well worth the read.

After all the trauma he experienced in Vietnam and as a police officer in Boston who got shot in the line of duty, J.W. Jackson is happy living on Martha's Vineyard and making ends meet by taking odd jobs. One day while he and his wife Zee are eating at the local deli, shots ring out and J.T. rushes out to see Paul Fox lying down on the sidewalk. The shooter is nowhere to be found but Paul is not seriously injured because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

It turns out that Paul was wearing the vest in an effort to persuade his brother Donald, a real estate developer who has many enemies, to wear one also. Donald was using immoral but legal methods to force the year round residents to sell their homes to him, making the police think Donald was the intended victim. J.T. gets himself involved in the investigation and almost winds up getting himself killed.

It is always great to have a new Martha's Vineyard Mystery to read and A VINEYARD KILLING proves that claim. It is fun getting reacquainted with characters we have come to like and seeing Martha's Vineyard through the eyes of Philip R. Craig is always a special treat. The hero can't stop playing cop as he tries to solve an attempted homicide, a murder, a stalking case, and figure out how all these events are connected. This is definitely a must read mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Donald Fox is upsetting many residents of Martha's Vineyard by using questionable title searches in order to secure people's homes at an undervalued price. J.W. Jackson and his wife Zee resist the efforts of Fox's company Saberfox to buy their house. Coincidentally, they are in a nearby restaurant when Fox's brother Paul is shot. Fortunately Paul is wearing a bullet-proof vest and he recovers from the attack, but J.W. is still a minor suspect in the shooting because of his dealings with Saberfox and his proximity to the shooting. Meanwhile another of the Vineyard's inhabitants asks J.W. to find out more about the man who is courting her mother. She has no objections to her mother having a relationship, but wants to make sure that the man is an honorable person. J.W. sets out on his investigation, and suddenly finds himself being followed by Saberfox employees. Philip Craig weaves these two plots together and throws in some of the Jacksons' family time to create another good read in his Vineyard series. As usual, he includes some recipes in the back of the book and uses Martha's Vineyard as the appealing background for his novel.

I read this book after hearing about it on Good Morning America. I must say that I am not a big mystery fan, but from time to time I will read one and usually do find them an interesting read. This was not the case with "A Vineyard Killing." There were "twists and turns" that left you wondering but the book just didn't "grab" my interest, but I did finish it just to see who the murderer was.

J. W. Jackson is an ex Boston policeman. He likes to live the simple life and especially to fish. He, his wife Zee, who is a nurse in the local hospital, and their two children, Joshua and Diana live on Martha's Vineyard.

Paul Fox is shot outside the E and E Deli in Vineyard Haven on the island. J. W. and Zee were inside eating. J. W. runs outside to help him. Luckily Paul was wearing a bulletproof vest.

It is possible that Paul's brother, Donald, who is an Olympic gold medalist who is now a ruthless real estate developer, was the intended target. Donald's company is trying to buy up fuzzy old deeds and evicting homeowners on the island. One of his agents, Albert Kirkland, recently tried to buy the Jackson's home. J. W. is a part-time PI and takes the case to find out who is trying to kill Donald.

J. W. begins looking into Donald's life and finds many suspects, especially angry homeowners on the island. He begins looking into John Reilly for a friend and finds that no one knows where he lives. In attempting to follow him home, two men begin following J. W. From here things just keep getting complicated until J. W. can finally make sense of everything.

I love this series. We vacationed in New England last summer and we went to Marth'as Vineyard specifically because of my reading this series. It is as lovely in the books as it is in person. Mr. Craig has really captured the life and beauty of the island.

The main characters in this series are well written. Every time I read a book in this series, I feel like I'm catching up with an old friend. In each book, the new characters are constructed just as well. He has a real gift for making his characters real.

The plot in each book, this one included, is so well written you cannot figure out the mystery completely.

I truly enjoyed this book and love this series. I highly recommend it.

I selected this book for my discussion group based on the fact that it was a Good Morning America Book Club selection. I'm not a mystery reader, and I have never hear of Philip R. Craig. Reading through some of the reviews, it seems this isn't one of his best, so I'm disappointed that it was my introduction to the author. I'm also disappointed in GMA for selecting such a mediocre story as a book club selection. Unfortunately, my discussion group disintegrated into general bashing of this novel and of the selection of it for the group to read. I put this out there as a warning to other people who might rely on the GMA recommendation and come looking for some moving literature, instead of bottom barrel genre fiction that gives mysteries a bad name.

The narrator is well-known to series fans, but as an outsider, I found him full of himself, with an inflated ego in intellectual and physical matters. He was unlikeable and I was thoroughly annoyed at having to listen to his point of view by the end of the book. There was a huge sideline red herring storyline in this book, and it went absolutely nowhere and just made a mess out of the plot. Perhaps it related to the larger series of books, but in this mystery, it was senseless.

i am a huge philip craig fan but i felt that he phoned in this book. i wouldn't be surprised if i found out that he had someone else write it for him. it didn't have the charm or gripping mystery of all his other books. he didn't even describe zee in glowing terms as he always does and even the recipes looked dull. part of what draws in a vineyard series fan is the romance between jj and zee which is practically nonexistent here, the kids calling him "pa" is beginning to grate on my nerves and all they do is ask for a dog to which he always says no. it's boring this time around. the villains here are dull too--real estate? yawn. better luck next time philip craig. i'll be here, hopefully you will come through.

I am pleased with this book, but must admit that it is not quite as good as his later books. I have just discovered this series by the late Philip R. Craig. I actually started the series with his last book and loved it. As I said this is not quite as good, but still entertaining. I plan to read through the entire series.

I really like Craig's mysteries about life on Martha's Vineyard. His writing takes you there.

Philip Craig returns to a college love of fencing with A VINEYARD KILLING. Each sequence is rapier thin without the buttons as J.W. Jackson delves into the corporate structure of Saberfox.
The Fox brothers come to the island to force property owners of limited incomes to forfeit their holdings when threatened with court action to prove their property deeds. Paul Fox is gunned down when leaving the E & E Deli, but survives the ordeal. All believe his brother, Donald was the intended victim, but J.W. Jackson has to wonder if two shots over the heart was a near miss.
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Romance blooms on a rocky shore on two fronts in this engaging read, that is just they mystery/suspense when your time for reading is limited.