Phillip R. Craig Dead in Vineyard Sand

Dead in Vineyard Sand

Phillip R. Craig

Scribner, June 2006, $24.00, 224 pp.

ISBN 0743270444

On the surface Martha's Vineyard is a bright beautiful quaint place where the rich go in the summer to vacation. However, there is another side to the island one that is dark and crime ridden just like any other place; soon former police officer J.W. Jackson will cross paths with some of the most evil criminals he has ever known and he has known plenty before he got injured on the job.

Radical conservationist Henry Highsmith would like to see only bicycles driven on the island and a halt to building new golf courses. J.W. who doesn't care either way gets into a fight with Henry when the environmentalist wrongly accuses the ex cop. of almost running over his bike. A few days later at the golf course J.W. and others find the buried body of Henry murdered with a bullet in his head. A witness says they saw J.W. following Henry's wife and run her off the road. Since J.W. becomes a person of interest to the police, he starts his own investigation to clear his name. The picture turns more complicated when Henry's wife is shot and is in critical condition in the hospital. J.W. keeps digging and what he finds make active and retired police officers like him sick to their stomach.

Readers see why year round residents and summer bird visitors love life on Martha's Vineyard. Part of the charm of the series is the protagonist's obvious love for his family that reader can verify by his interactions with them. There are plenty of suspects who could be the killer but J.W. and the police lack any credible evidence to get an arrest. Phillip R. Craig is a witty storyteller who excels at creating believable characters inside an exciting and entertaining who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner