Cynthia Riggs, Indian Pipes

Indian Pipes

Cynthia Riggs

St. Martin's, May 2006, $22.95

ISBN 0312354762

In West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard, ninety-two year old Deputy Sheriff Victoria Trumbull and her granddaughter Elizabeth are walking together when they see a person apparently fall from a nearby cliff. The nonagenarian soon learns the corpse is that of her reclusive neighbor Jube Burkhardt. The crime scene and what Victoria and Elizabeth observed, even from a distance, lend credence to Jube accidentally falling off a nearby ledge.

Victoria learns that Jube, an engineer, attended a meeting called by the local Wampanoag tribal council to discuss soil testing in support of their proposed casino. Though she vowed to stay out of the casino controversy, she finds the link to Jube too tempting to ignore, as the residents of West Tisbrury are divided over the gambling project. Motivated to uncover the identity of the killer, Victoria soon finds a second dead person and an arson set fire. As she gets closer to the truth, the culprit tries to silence the persistent cop.

As with the five previous delightful Martha's Vineyard Mysteries, INDIAN PIPES is a superb whodunit starring a feisty protagonist, who though geriatric has not lost much of her step (just ask her grand-daughter). The storyline is exciting as a reluctant Victoria investigates the death and more. The story is terrific and the heroine wonderful, and as always Cynthia Riggs provides an eccentric support cast, this time a motorcycle biking professor and his hogs that turns the tale into a colorful winner.