Jack in the Pulpit » (Playaway Edition)

Cynthia Riggs, a thirteenth generation Islander, lives on Martha's Vineyard in her family homestead, which she runs as a bed-and-breakfast catering to poets and writers. She has a degree in geology from Antioch College and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College and holds a U.S. Coast Guard Masters License (100-ton). This is her third published mystery.

Everybody Loves Victoria

Praise for Deadly Nightshade

"[A] well-written mystery, with a host of very believable-as well as some very eccentric-characters...For a first novel, this one is quite special."

— Mystery News

"Riggs shows her gift for characterizations that will have her audience clamoring for an ongoing series at least until Victoria turns one hundred."

— Midwest Book Review

"First-rate plotting notwithstanding, it is Riggs's wonderful cast of characters that brings her novel to life . . Here's hoping Victoria Trumbull is solving crimes for many years to come."

— ALA Booklist

"Feisty, fiercely independent nonagenarian Victoria Trumbull makes a welcome debut in Riggs's first novel ... The book's dedicatee, Donis Coffin Riggs (1898-1997), native Vineyarder and poet, would seem to be the model for Victoria. Everyone should have such a terrific grandmother."

—Publisher's Weekly

Praise for the The Cranefly Orchid Murders

"Riggs . . .knows the Island - its flora, fauna, families, legends, customs and rumors - so well that every pace she puts her senior sleuth through becomes another delightful discovery."

—Book Page

"The author is well aware of the comedy involving people who take themselves seriously, and adds a nice satiric touch when describing the utopians, the environmentalists, the developers, the big-wigs and the would-be bigwigs. Once again, Ms. Riggs' knowledge of the Island and its people serves her and her readers well."

—The Martha's Vineyard Times

"Riggs is not afraid to describe elderly poet Victoria Trumbull realistically - wrinkles and all . . . first-rate plotting . . . wonderful cast of characters . . In addition to the endearing, yet never sentimentalized Victoria, the supporting figures are uniformly compelling and thoroughly believable. . . here's hoping Victoria Trumbull is solving crimes for many years to come"

—ALA Booklist

Publishers Weekly

Fall is a splendid season on Martha's Vineyard, with spectacular views of land and sea in the ever-changing light. The sudden death of four people in one month, all parishioners at the same church, however, upsets the island's tranquility. In Riggs's absorbing fourth Vineyard mystery (after 2003's Cemetery Yew), Victoria Trumbull, the wise and sprightly nonagenarian island native, is caught in the middle of a jealous battle between the new minister and the retiring minister (both named Jack) at the community church. The ministers' wives are spreading gossip about the four deceased, all of whom provided handsomely for the church. If Victoria's granddaughter, a fugitive from a vengeful and abusive husband, adds to her worries, Victoria can take solace in her developing friendship with the new, city-bred police chief. A complex, well-paced plot, involving a never-mentioned grandparent, an auto accident, a dead seagull and a basket of mushrooms, comes to a neat resolution. A sensitive observer of the scene, Riggs writes with warmth and humor about all-too-human characters with whom readers can readily identify. Agent, Nancy Love. (June 16) Forecast: The simultaneous release of Philip Craig's latest Martha's Vineyard mystery, Murder at a Vineyard Mansion (Forecasts, Apr. 5), will do no harm Vineyard fanciers will have to read both. The attractive, fall-colored jacket art of a jack-in-the-pulpit plant in the foreground and a church steeple in the background subtly reinforces the punning title. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.