Death In The Off-Season: A Nantucket Island Mystery (1995) - Plot & Excerpts
When Rusty Mason, scion of one of Nantucket's oldest and wealthiest families, is found dead in a flooded cranberry bog one foggy fall night, thirty-two-year-old detective Meredith Folger is faced with her first murder case. Rusty, it seems, had been absent from the country for over a decade - ever since he was indicted for securities fraud. No one expected him to show up that night. No one, that is, except his killer. Peter Mason, the bog's owner, seems less than moved by his brother's brutal death. The two men, it turns out, had been nursing a decade-old grudge over a woman. Could Peter have killed Rusty, or was Rusty attacked by mistake in the fog - when the killer thought he was Peter? As Merry wrestles with her attraction to Peter, she gradually wins the trust of the community and unravels a ten-year-old tangle of family betrayal, blackmail, and violence. It soon becomes apparent that any number of people had motives for killing Rusty. Could it be Lucy Jacoby, whose tortured past threatens her future with Peter Mason? Or Sky, the family lawyer, whose stellar career was built on a shady past? Or Mayling, his exotic wife, a clothing designer, one of whose distinctive buttons is found next to Rusty's body? From the fog-shrouded lanes of Nantucket to the plush suburban lawns of Greenwich, Connecticut, Death in the Off-season is a riveting, atmospheric mystery. Brainy, gutsy, and witty, yet vulnerable and determined to prove herself to the community and her own father - who just happens to be the chief of police - Merry Folger is an unforgettable new heroine. Death in the Off-season is sure to make Francine Mathews one of the brightest, most-watched new stars on the mystery scene.
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