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Summary
Summary
Victoria Trumbull, the ninety-two-year-old poet/sleuth, discovers a neighbor's body in the home of one of the three town assessors. The assessors have been skimming off tax money from wealthy landowners and stashing it in their own special retirement funds. Then the private pilot of the not-so-holy clergyman husband of one of these landowners is found dead, floating in his employer's pond, his face gnawed by snapping turtles. Finally, searching for old documents in the attic ofTown Hall, Victoria discovers a third body, that of the long-missing assessors clerk. In order to tie all the threads together and solve the murders, Cynthia again teams up with her old friend and rival, Emery Meyer, now working as the landowner's chauffeur.It's another entertaining mystery, as only Riggs can spin it, infused with the flora and fauna of Martha's Vineyard.
Author Notes
Cynthia Riggs , a thirteenth-generation Islander, lives on Martha's Vineyard in her family homestead, which she runs as a bed-and-breakfast catering to poets and writers. She has a degree in geology from Antioch College and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, and she holds a U.S. Coast Guard Masters License (100-ton).
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Victoria Trumbull, indomitable 92-year-old deputy police officer and poet, investigates smalltown skulduggery in Riggs's engaging eighth Martha's Vineyard mystery (after 2007's Shooting Star). Along with the dead body of widow Lucy Pease, Victoria finds property cards containing tax information in the home of one of the three town assessors, Ellen Meadows, who's off island. Knowing these cards should never have left the town hall, Ellen gets on the trail of a skimming scheme involving the assessors and their clerk, Oliver Ashpine. Meanwhile, Victoria learns that Ashpine is threatening to reveal the unsavory past of Delilah Sampson, a flamboyant TV star who owns an island property, if Delilah doesn't pay her outrageously high property tax. Getting an agricultural "restriction" by turning her property into a farm could be the solution to Delilah's problem. Once again, Riggs, a 13th-generation Vineyarder, depicts the flaws and foibles of her island characters with sympathy and humor. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
It's spring on Martha's Vineyard when 92-year-old sleuth Victoria Trumbull becomes involved in her eighth charming mystery. Victoria has been appointed a special deputy by Sheriff Casey because she knows everyone in the island town of West Tisbury. When Victoria isn't helping the sheriff, she reads and writes poetry and prepares a column for the local newspaper. Also a passionate gardener, she is busy transplanting the native plant lunaria (also known as honesty) in her garden. The mystery this time revolves around the three town tax assessors and the town clerk who have been running a skimming scam for years. Victoria also wonders about a televangelist and his estranged wife. And finally there's a crowing rooster that is about to spark violence between its owner and disgruntled neighbors. What starts out as Victoria's search for a missing assessor soon turns into series of interrelated murders. The entertaining story line may be unrealistic, but Riggs' character development and her lovely descriptions will have readers longing for both a trip to Martha's Vineyard and the next book in the series.--Coon, Judy Copyright 2009 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
Death and Honesty CHAPTER 1 The fickle Island weather turned raw and chilly, and a cold April rain slashed against the west windows of Victoria Trumbull's house. Her granddaughter, Elizabeth, lighted an oak fire in the parlor, and Victoria settled into her mouse-colored wing chair with a book of Robert Frost's poetry for a comfortable evening of reading. When the phone rang, Elizabeth answered. "For you, Gram. The chief." "Am I getting you at a bad time, Victoria?" "What can I do for you, Casey?" The call was from Mary Kathleen O'Neill, also known as Casey, the town's police chief. She had appointed Victoria her deputy after realizing how much the ninety-two-year-old poet knew about the Island and its inhabitants. In fact, Victoria was related to most of them. "Have you seen Ellen Meadows lately?" Casey asked. Victoria marked her place with a slip of paper and set her book aside. "Not for several days. Why?" "She's disappeared." "How long has she been missing?" "She didn't show up this noon for a lunch date with Selena and Ocypete, the other assessors. How do you pronounce her name, anyway?" "She pronounces it 'Oh-SIP-i-tee,"' said Victoria. Casey paused. "Wait a sec, Victoria. Someone's on the other line." Victoria heard a slight click as Casey put her on hold. While she waited, she held up her glass in a toast to her granddaughter. Elizabeth lifted hers, too. "To you, Gram. Thanks!" It seemed only a short time ago that Elizabeth, going through a divorce, had invited herself for a couple of weeks. Now, Victoria couldn't imagine life without her sunny granddaughter. Casey came back on the line. "Sorry, Victoria. Thought it might be news of Ellen, but it was Jordan Rivers complaining about Lambert Willoughby's rooster. Where was I?" "You were saying Ellen didn't show up for luncheon with the other two assessors." "Right. They went to Ellen's house earlier this evening, before it started to rain. She wasn't there. At least they didn't see her. Adolph hadn't been fed or let out, so the animal control officer took him home with her. I don't know that anyone's cleaned up the mess." "Is Ellen's car in her driveway?" "The two said it wasn't." "I don't know Ellen well," said Victoria. "In fact, I don't know any of the three assessors well. I have no idea where Ellen is likely to be." "It's not a police matter yet, but if she's fallen or had a stroke or something ... She's in her seventies. At her age, you know ..." "No, I don't know," Victoria said firmly. "I asked Junior Norton to stop by while he was making his police rounds. No one answered his knock." "I'm sure her door's not locked." "We police ..." Casey paused. "I can't enter her house without her invitation." She emphasized the word "I." Victoria waited. Casey said, "The woman who bought the old Hammond place had an argument with Ellen about her assessment." "She's not the only person in town to have argued with Ellen. I've had some heated discussions with her myself," said Victoria. "You know I can't authorize you to enter her house on official business. However, as a friend and neighbor. Or at least, neighbor ..." "All right," said Victoria, getting out of her comfortable chair. "I'll ask Howland to take me there." She disconnected and immediately dialed Howland Atherton, her friend and a semiretired drug enforcement agent. "I know Ellen only by sight," Howland said after Victoria explained about the missing assessor. "Enough to keep out of her way What's on your mind, Victoria?" "I need to check her house." "Now? I'll be glad to take you, but it's pouring." "The sooner the better. Casey is worried about her." "Okay. I'll be there in ten minutes." "I can take you, Gram," Elizabeth said. "Keep the fire going. I won't be long." When Howland showed up, rain was pouring off the main roof of Victoria's old house, overflowing the wooden gutters and gurgling through the metal drainpipes. Howland parked as close as he could to the west steps, but even in his short dash to the entry, his yellow slicker was drenched. He tossed back his hood, exposing silver hair that curled artistically around his forehead and ears. "I'm wet," he said. "I'll wait out here in the entry." She shrugged into her faded tan raincoat and tugged her rubber gardening boots over her stocking feet, wincing as the boot rubbed against her sore toe. The wind blew rain into the open entry door and whistled through the cracked pane in the kitchen window. As she was buttoning the raincoat, Victoria said, "Casey won't go into Ellen's house without a warrant. She wants me to check, as long as it's unofficial." Howland nodded. "An adult missing for less than twenty-four hours doesn't give the police probable cause." Elizabeth appeared, holding a musty black silk umbrella. "I found this in the attic, Gram. It'll help keep some of the rain off." She escorted Victoria to the car, then dashed back into the shelter of the entry. Ellen's house was only a half mile from Victoria's, but the rain made it seem farther. The windshield wipers slashed back and forth, moving curtains of water without making much difference in visibility. Ellen's house was dark. Howland parked close to the side entrance. Across the road, Alley's General Store was closed for the night, the porch regulars long gone. As they went up the steps to the kitchen door, lilac branches heavy with tight buds slapped them wetly. Victoria knocked, waited, then cupped her hands against the glass pane and peered in. When there was no answer, she pushed the door open and they stepped inside. Howland switched on the lights and sniffed. "Something smells bad." Victoria agreed. "No one let her dog out." Nothing seemed out of order in the kitchen. Victoria noticed several cardboard file boxes on the dining room table and stopped to look. "Forget those for now," Howland said. They checked the front hall. The parlor seemed almost too neat. Obviously not used regularly. Nothing was out of order in the two upstairs bedrooms or the bath, so they returned to the kitchen, where the smell was strongest. Victoria looked around. "Someone cleaned up whatever dog mess there was. We haven't checked the pantry." The pantry door was partly hidden by the refrigerator. Howland lifted the latch and tugged the door open. Victoria's first impression was the stench. The second was the buzzing of flies. Only then did she focus on the woman lying on the floor, a chubby woman, her eyes open, her face a purplish color, a scarf knotted so tightly around her throat that it sank into her flabby flesh. In her death throes, she had soiled herself. Victoria backed out of the pantry. "Call Casey, will you, Howland? It's not Ellen." DEATH AND HONESTY. Copyright © 2009 by Cynthia Riggs. Excerpted from Death and Honesty by Cynthia Riggs All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.