Bøger i Martha's Vineyard Mystery serien

Life on the Vineyard is good-maybe just too good--for ex-Boston cop J.W. Jackson this August. The bluefish are running early, and there's plenty of quality fishing time to be spent with his new baby son Joshua. But an idyllic summer hits a snag when a movie scout from a glamorous land called "Hollywood" invades the beaches--and takes a liking not only to the island locale, but to Jackson's lovely lady Zee as well. Worse still, a longtime nemesis turns up murdered just one day after he and J.W. come to blows, and Jackson is considered by nearly everyone, up-island and down, to be the most likely suspect. And if he hopes to spend the remainder of this season--as well as many others to come--enjoying simple family pleasures and fine, fresh seafood outside of a prison cell, J.W. will have to cast his line out and hook the real killer.

Violent crime is a rarity on the tranquil shores of Martha's Vineyard, which is why ex-cop J.W. Jackson turned in his Boston badge to retire to the idyllic isle. And that's what makes a six-month-old murder so troubling to the perplexed locals. But Jackson's got troubles of his own -- including a loving wife, Zee, who's becoming curiously distant ... and the arrival of a mysterious visitor who's searching for a valuable set of stolen statues, and who's certain J.W.'s the man to hunt them down. It's an assignment that plunges the fisherman/chef-cum-private investigator into an unfamiliar milieu: the Vineyard's cutthroat world of art aficionados. And suddenly J.W. finds himself pitted against some of the island's most powerful and unscrupulous figures, uncovering lethal threads that may connect an unsolved mutilation/slaying with those who would stop at nothing -- including murder -- to add rare forbidden objects to their collections.

A Middle Eastern potentate and his entourage are descending on Martha's Vineyard -- and chaos is in the salt air. Ex-Boston-cop Jeff "J.W." Jackson would rather be fishing with his lady Zee, but the island's overtaxed police force needs his help to control the madness their visitor's arrival has stirred up -- especially since the great man will not leave before ceremoniously reclaiming an emerald necklace stolen from his nation a century ago. But when both the jewels and Zee vanish, J.W. is quickly transformed from rent-a-cop to frantic investigator. Because an ill tide has carried desperate men to this idyllic island with murder on their minds. And Jackson suddenly stands to lose everything that he dearly loves.

Escaping the city and its violence, ex-cop Jeff "J. W." Jackson found solace in fishing, cooking, and simplyenjoying life on Martha's Vineyard -- and nothing, he figures, will ever entice him to leave. However, suddenly there's a very real possibility that his lady love Zee will be departing the idyllic island forever. And when a young student commits suicide, and a girlfriend-abusing thug starts spewing vicious threats, J. W. seriously considers a temporary escape from paradise. But it's a failed trio of attempts on his own life that ultimately propels him off-island -- and onto the trail of a stalker that's leading Jackson to the perilous peaks of the Colorado Rockies, where he quickly learns that, thorns and all, there's no place quite like his Vineyard home.

Sell Low, Die HardFormer champion Olympic fencer-turned-sleazy real estate developer Donald Fox isn't making any friends on Martha's Vineyard this gray and chilly March. He's using unscrupulous methods and legal ambiguities to force homeowners to sell their valuable land at rock bottom prices. He's even approached fisherman/sometime-sleuth J. W. Jackson and his wife Zee, not realizing that the retired Boston cop is anything but an easy mark. So when Donald's brother Paul is shot by an unseen assailant on a Vineyard street, J. W. can't help wondering if the wrong Fox sibling inadvertently took the bullet. Since Jackson's curiosity and deep-rooted sense of justice have always gotten the better of him -- and since the bluefish aren't running yet anyway -- he's going to track down the shooter, before preseason on his beloved isle turns irrevocably deadly.

It's particularly quiet on Martha's Vineyard this summer, since a shadowy figure called "the Silencer" began his covert campaign of destruction -- disabling the audio systems in the homes and vehicles of selfish, music-blasting islanders. A respite from the unwanted noise suits fishing enthusiast, former cop, and sometime investigator J.W. Jackson just fine -- until a gargantuan new Chappaquiddick mansion is vandalized and a night watchman is thrown to his death off a nearby cliff. Hired by the aristocratic mother of the most likely suspect to help prove her son's innocence, J.W. starts to explore some mysterious connections linking the Vineyard's most prominent families. But digging up the dirty secrets of the island elite may only inflame a murderer who's not done killing -- and hasten J.W.'s own journey to the graveyard.

Summer is a distant memory. Thanksgiving has comeand gone. Hunting season is in full swing on the Vineyard . . .And some of the prey is human.Ex-cop, chef, and dedicated angler J.W. Jackson would do anything for his old 'Nam buddy and fishing companion Joe Begay. But when Joe asks to be smuggled back onto the Vineyard in secret, J.W. knows there's big trouble brewing. After his tour of duty officially ended, Joe was involved in highly sensitive covert government work. Now only Begay and one other former operative on his team -- the seductive and extremely dangerous Kate MacLeod -- are still alive. The three remaining shadow warriors died unexpectedly, quite possibly at the hands of a ruthlessly efficient killer known only as the Easter Bunny. J.W.'s beloved wife, Zee, and their two young children could easily get caught in the deadly crossfire if the assassin makes his way to their now desolate island. Or perhaps he -- or she -- is already there . . .

Tourist season may be over...but the killing season hasjust begun.There's nothing like Martha's Vineyard on these crisp autumn days, after the season has ended. Now that the "off-islanders" are finally off the island, ex-Boston cop J.W. Jackson is free to relax, fish, and make future plans with his lady love Zee. But the natives are getting seriously restless this fall, with animal rights activists squaring off against deer slayers and environmentalists butting heads with land developers. Things have reached the boiling-over point -- and it's not long before verbal arrows become real ones. And when a most unlikely victim is caught in the lethal crossfire, Jackson can't just sit by idly with a fishing pole in his hand. Someone has to lead the hunt for a killer, and J.W.'s the man -- even if there's a chance that he won't live to see next summer.