Prophets of a New Age: The Politics of Hope from the Eighteenth Through the Twenty-First Centuries

The two weeks before Labor Day are treacherous for ex-Boston cop J. W. Jackson and his companion Zee Madieras in Craig's ( The Woman Who Walked into the Sea ) third Martha's Vineyard mystery. Unfortunately, the plot is, as one character observes of J.W.'s final deduction, ``farfetched'' and smacks of daytime drama. An emerald necklace stolen 200 years ago from the Middle Eastern realm of Sarofim is to be returned (at the encouragement of the White House) to the Padishah of Sarofim by the elderly sisters who have inherited it. But chicanery and violence abound when members of Sarofim's liberation front and other nefarious characters complicate the transfer with a paste necklace, false books, attempted poisonings, accidental deaths and apparent suicides. The titillating romance between J.W. and Zee, J.W.'s Spenser-like interest in food and the sensuous late-summer pleasures of the island are appealing. But the reader must work to overlook the B-movie story line. Paperback rights to Avon. (Aug.)