A Case of Vineyard Poison by Philip R. Craig is the sixth book of the Martha’s Vineyard Mystery series set on Martha’s Vineyard in the 1990s. I’m a fan of protagonist J.W. Jefferson and his easy-going lifestyle. A former Boston policeman, he retired young due to a bullet lodged near his spine. He fishes almost daily, selling his catch to local restaurants, and he works at various handyman jobs around the island (multiple jobs are typical for many year-round residents). J.W. grows a garden and cooks what he grows. When not fishing with rod and reel, he’s quahogging with a rake.“Quahogging involves wading out into shallow water with a floating basket tied to your waist, and scratching around on the bottom with a quahog rake. When you find a quahog, it feels and sounds something like, but not quite like, hitting a rock. After a while you know a quahog when you've found one, and you no longer get excited about hitting rocks. Conchs and the occasional horseshoe crab, however, often feel like quahogs and serve to make the game seem a bit chancier than it would otherwise be.”“Quahogs are hard-shell clams that are true gifts from the sea. The smallest keepers are littlenecks, which are usually eaten raw on the half shell and which cost a shocking amount to buy, considering how easy they are to catch. Cherrystones are the next step up, and I use them mostly for clams casino - clams on the half shell, topped by garlic butter, some bread crumbs, and a bit of bacon, broiled until the bacon is done. Even people who say they don't like clams like casinos, and no wonder. You can also french fry the little guys if you want to, and I often do. The bigger quahogs usually become stuffers or find their way into chowders. You can make a lot of different kinds of meals out of quahogs, and all of them are good.”The story is set in June, close to J.W. and Zee’s July wedding. On a routine stop at an ATM for cash, Zee discovers an extra $100,000 in her account. It disappears in a few days. When a college girl, working on the Vineyard for the summer, dies of poisoning on J.W.’s driveway, he takes it personally. So does one of the medics who recover the body. He sublimates his worry for his own daughter into hostility toward J.W., and beats him up. In his usual roundabout but effective fashion, J.W. checks into the victim’s friends, family and elusive boyfriend. Investigating her bank account, he sees she also had $100,000 in it at one time, most unusual for a college student working a summer job on the island.J.W.’s Boston Globe reporter friend Quinn arrives for a visit, bringing his friend Dave. Zee recognizes Dave on sight: he is a famous piano musician. Dave is world-weary of his constant performance tours, in need of quiet time for a few days. He has told no one in his professional life of his plan to be on the Vineyard. Meanwhile Zee’s mother Maria will soon be coming to stay with her and prepare for the wedding.J.W. is a great cook. The day Quinn and friend are due to arrive, J.W. gathers the fresh ingredients for a clam boil, as a true island welcome: clams, quahogs, littlenecks and cherrystones. From quahogs he makes “stuffers”: ground cooked quahog meat, onion, garlic, linguiça, bread crumbs, hot pepper and bacon, returned to the half shell for baking. From cherrystones he makes clams casino (Euell’s recipe). He cooks up extra potatoes, sausage and onions to go with the clams. They start with cold littlenecks and cocktail sauce, and then eat broiled casinos “while the stuffers baked and the steamers steamed”. After they ate the stuffers, J.W. served the potatoes, sausage and onions in bowls with the steamed clams. A feast heartily enjoyed by all.J.W. contacts his banker friend Hazel, and together they find suspicious links between the poisoned girl, the medic’s daughter, a boyfriend apparently to both girls, and mysterious $100,000 balances that appear in various accounts. Quinn gets interested, and uses his contacts to flesh out all the details from mainland connections. J.W. thinks he has it figured out, and goes to meet with a suspected accessory, after midnight in a deserted place – not a smart move. But it all works out in the end, even with his prospective mother-in-law.My only complaint with this book is what appears to be a big gaffe: Banker Hazel Fine’s name changes to Helen partway through the story. Hazel Fine was introduced to the series in the previous book, Off Season. Her name Hazel was never described as a nickname for Helen.I’m so fond of the series by now; I will continue reading, gaffe or no. Next up is Death on a Vineyard Beach.
As with most of the Vineyard series, this one really does have a decent mystery plot. Also as usual, one has to wade through a lot of inane filler: 'witty banter', fishing and otherwise procuring seafood, the manner of cooking same, and the reiteration of things the author says about Martha's Vineyard at least once or twice each book. Having duly waded through this swash for half the book or so, picking up the various mystery lines, one is finally rewarded with a fairly decent and satisfactory ending.
Do You like book A Case Of Vineyard Poison (1996)?
A CASE OD VINEYARD POISON by Philip R. CraigAmidst the plans for J.W. Jackson and Zee Maderias getting married we find a young woman dead on J.W.’s property, apparently poisoned. Things point to an accident of a health food fan eating the wrong mushrooms, but J.W. doesn’t buy that theory. Craig had me guessing not exactly whodunnit but how and why right up until the last few pages. I’m a sucker for these Martha’s Vineyard mysteries because Craig intersperses plenty of surf casting, clamming, and scalloping along with a few good seafood recipes all of which remind me of my younger days on Long Island’s North Fork. 4 stars.
—Wayne Zurl
