A FATAL VINEYARD SEASON by Philip R. CraigAfter a quick trip back to my old neighborhood on the North Fork of Long Island, a day wandering around the Peconic Bay-side town of Greenport, and a couple of nights in a motel on LI Sound, I was in the mood for one of Phil Craig’s Martha’s Vineyard mysteries and the almost parallel lifestyle led by JW Jackson on The Vineyard.A FATAL VINEYARD SEASON was next on my chronological list. Generally, these tales of an ex-Boston cop enjoying his disability retirement are just a short step from a cozy. Not so here. Craig kept us busy with a double dose of tension throughout the entire book. And it was plausible, real-time tension created by an encroaching hurricane and a pair of giant-sized, out-of-control ex-convicts turned protection racket extortionists who are not only terrorizing the merchants of sleepy little Oak Bluffs, but are racists and have taken a real dislike to Jackson. Attempted rapes, burglaries, arsons, severe beatings, and other general insurrection are confounding the small department cops and JW as he’s hired to protect two young black actresses vacationing in their family’s summer home on The Vineyard. Throughout, Craig didn’t attempt to ramp up the already sufficient tension by having Jackson do stupid things to put himself in more jeopardy. The interpersonal conflicts were also plausible, but not over contrived or over-the-top. I liked everything about this book, but would have liked to see one dangling detail better resolved at the end—a definitive disposition for the horrific Alexandro Vegas. Otherwise, very nicely done. 4.5 stars
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