Double Murder on Martha's Vineyard: Including Deadly Nightshade; The Cranefly of Orchid Murders

Martha's Vineyard Mystery #1, 2

by Cynthia Riggs

Victoria Trumbull, a fiesty, alert and lively 92-year-old protagonist, tracks murders (and murderers) on Martha's Vineyard, the lovely, sun-splashed island off Cape Cod. Double Murder includes the first two of seven books featuring Victoria. In Deadly Nightshade, villains suspect Victoria has witnessed a murder and must silence her. In The Cranely Orchid Murders, land developers and environmentalists are pitted against each other and is based on a real Island political debate. In both, the subject is...Murder.

425 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Cynthia Riggs, a tall gray-haired and imposing figure, is a 13th generation Islander, the mother of five and daughter of author and poet Dionis Coffin Riggs and school principal and printmaker Sidney N. Riggs.

With a degree in geology, her own remarkable resumé -- writing for the National Geographic Society and Smithsonian (she spent two months in Antarctica), working in public relations for the American Petroleum Institute, operating boat charters (she lived on a 44-foot houseboat for 12 years), running the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Boat Company, and being a rigger at Martha's Vineyard Shipyard. After enrolling six years ago in the Master of Fine Arts creative writing program at Vermont College, Riggs found yet another calling. She has become a successful mystery writer.

All her mysteries take place on the Vineyard, and all draw from local scenes and fictionalized composites of Island characters. She knows them all well, having been a two-time candidate for West Tisbury selectman ("No, I don't think I'll do that again"), a commissioner on the Martha's Vineyard Commission, a member of what is now the Martha's Vineyard Arts Council, and an active Island voice in both politics and human rights causes.

Reviews

[Mariland McCartney · Rating 4 out of 5]

2 Stories in one book. I liked the second one better than the first but both are cleverly done