Poison Ivy: A Martha’s Vineyard Mystery

Nonagenarian Victoria Trumbull is still active and alert, but the plot of Riggs’s 11th Martha’s Vineyard mystery (after 2011’s The Bee Balm Murders) creaks. Victoria, an acclaimed poet and unlikely police deputy, has agreed to teach a class at tiny, struggling Ivy Green College on the island. The problems between the college’s founder, Thackery Wilson, and the oversight committee appointed by Cape Cod University get worse quickly when a corpse found in a garage crawl space turns out to be wealthy supporter Harlan Bliss. More bodies, some years old, are uncovered, without a clue to the killer. Meanwhile, two students of professor Roberta Chadwick are upset by her handling of their research papers. Victoria does her best to help the students, a floundering Wilson, and the police stop a serial killer with an appetite for academics. While Riggs gets the Vineyard background right, not much of what happens makes a lot of sense. [em]Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch Literary Agency. (Mar.) [/em]