A retired policeman, J.W. lives a quiet life on the Vineyard with his wife and children. But he can't resist investigating the unusual crimes that occur in this quaint land of prime real estate.

A small town, even one detached from the mainland, has its share of unpleasant residents. When a developer with an unhappy wife, a bullish attitude toward women, and a much frowned upon plan is murdered, not many tears are shed. The case naturally falls to Victoria Trumbull, the ninety-two-year-old sharp-witted sheriff's deputy. Served by her in-depth knowledge of the island and her indomitable drive, Victoria is on the trail again, bunions, lilac-bough...

J.W. Jackson offers to help his ex-wife's husband, who is on the run from some very shady characters.

Cynthia Riggs has no problem making readers believe that her feisty protagonist can be almost indispensable to the new police chief. The years just seem to have sharpened ninety-two-year-old Victoria Trumbull's mind, and she's got an encyclopedic knowledge of her fellow West Tisbury residents and their forebears. But most readers do wonder how the old lady came to be made the chief's official deputy. Author Cynthia Riggs obligingly offers that

...

When J.W. Jackson foils an attempt to terminate former mob boss Luciano Marcus on the steps of Boston's Symphony Hall, it puts a definite damper on Jackson and Zee's newlywedded bliss, especially when the mayhem follows them back home to Martha's Vineyard. Keeping circling sharks from the kill might be more than J.W. can handle.

There's more than one reason the new West Tisbury police chief officially made ninety-two-year-old Victoria Trumbull her deputy. For one thing, Victoria knows just about everything about everyone in Martha's Vineyard, not to mention their ancestors. Victoria may be afflicted with the usual aches and pains that descend on nonagenarians—she has a cutoff shoe to accommodate her bunion and a stout stick to help her on her walks across the fields

...

"Former antiquities bounty hunter, Julie Ellis, is on the run, trying to stay one stiletto step ahead of her past. She accepts a position as manager of the Quilt Haus Inn in Missouri wine country, thinking it the perfect place to keep a low profile and start a new, less-dangerous career. It is - until Daniel Franklin walks through the door and asks for a room. Daniel claims he's come to Straussberg in search of a famous sunken ship that he believes...

At first, the girl J. W. Jackson encounters strolling alone along South Beach seems like your typical teenager. But there's nothing typical about young Cricket Callahan, the spirited only daughter of the vacationing President of the United States. Why is the feisty First Kid so intent upon eluding her Secret Service guardians, and why does the President want J.W. and Zee to watch over her? The answer comes in the form of a dead body. Not even...

With two friends in trouble and his own family receiving threats, J.W. Jackson must summon all of his investigative skills to try to restore order to his beloved Vineyard island home, where fishing and good food should always take precedence over murder.