When Colley Jameson, the harried, hard-drinking editor of the Island Enquirer
, refuses to reinstate Victoria Trumbull's weekly column, even after the 92-year-old sheriff's deputy saves his life when his tie gets stuck in a printing press, Victoria offers her services elsewhere in Riggs's delightful fifth Martha's Vineyard mystery (after 2004's Jack in the Pulpit
). William Botts, editor of the West Tisbury Grackle
, a one-page news sheet that sells for a dime, is happy to take on Victoria as an unpaid reporter, especially after she scoops the Enquirer
with a story about two halves of a body found at widely separated locations. The deceased turns out to be an unloved developer, and the plot soon thickens with a fatal poisoning, threatening letters, disgruntled ex-wives and a third murder. By this point in the series, Riggs has achieved an easy style and comfortable pace that perfectly suit her heroine. Vineyard watchers may miss the focus on environmental concerns of earlier books, but they'll be relieved to find that the Enquirer
and Grackle
bear no resemblance to the two actual Martha's Vineyard newspapers. Agent, Nancy Love. (May 9)
