Craig, Philip

Third Strike: A Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson Mystery (Brady Coyne and J. W. Jackson Novels)

Eminent mystery authors Philip R. Craig and William G. Tapply team up for a richly nuanced new installment in the Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson series that is a tribute not only to two witty, smart fictional sleuths but also to the enduring friendship of their creators.

It's late August, just when thousands of vacationers on beautiful Martha's Vineyard are preparing to go home so the kids can return to school. There's a problem, though. A union has gone on strike, paralyzing the Steamship Authority, which runs the ferries to "America," and creating panic and anger among many tourists and islanders alike.

When an explosion destroys a boat's engine room and kills the striker who apparently planted the bomb, J. W. Jackson, once a Boston cop but now an island man-of-all-work, reluctantly agrees to the widow's pleas that he attempt to prove her husband innocent of the crime. As J.W. begins inquiries, he discovers a complex series of relationships among strikers, scabs, and boat owners, and encounters violence of his own.

Meanwhile, Boston attorney Brady Coyne gets a call from a former client now living full-time on the Vineyard, who tells him about a group of armed men loading and unloading mysterious crates at a dock at midnight. Jackson and Coyne get together and discover that not only are their cases connected but that time is running out for them to prevent a crime that could have international ramifications -- and their only hope will be to confront dedicated killers face-to-face....With its winning contrast of page-turning suspense and evocative Vineyard ambiance, Third Strike is crime fiction at its best.

Vineyard Chill: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery

A Beautiful Place to Die: The First Martha's Vineyard Mystery (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries (Avon Books))

During his career as a Boston cop, Jeff "J.W." Jackson saw enough of the evil that men do to last a lifetime. So he retired to the serenity of Martha's Vineyard to spend his days fishing for blues and wooing a sexy nurse named Zee. But when a local's boat mysteriously explodes off the coast, killing an amiable young drifter, Jackson finds himself reluctantly drawn back into the investigative trade. For there is a serpent loose in paradise -- and it's contaminating Jackson's lovely, peaceful island with its poisonous venom of drugs and death.

Off Season (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries (Avon Books))

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.

Vineyard Stalker: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries)

J. W. Jackson, the ex-Boston cop turned fisherman, cook, and jack-of-all-trades, delves deep into the mysterious depths of his beloved Vineyard in author Philip Craig's most compelling caper yet.

With his wife, Zee, and two kids visiting relatives in "America," J.W. is alone and quickly tiring of his temporary bachelor status. A request from Carole Cohen comes as a blessed diversion. Carole wants J.W. to find the person who's stalking her brother, Roland. Known locally as "The Monk" for his reclusive ways, Roland lives on a beautiful piece of Vineyard real estate that he co-owns with his cousin Sally Oliver. A number of people, including Sally, would do almost anything to convince Roland to sell his valuable property. But does that include violence?

J.W. is happy to take on what looks like a short and easy assignment, though he soon realizes that Roland may lead a more complicated life than his austere living arrangements suggest. And when a body turns up near Roland's land, what seemed like a property dispute takes a detour into murder -- with J.W. in the midst of the action once again.

Featuring a rich mix of money, lust, pride, and jealousy, spiced with a little poignant regret, Vineyard Stalker is a page-turning and deftly plotted addition to this popular and engaging series in which Martha's Vineyard itself is always the star.

Death on a Vineyard Beach

There is no room for murder on a honeymoon.

When J.W. Jackson foils an attempt to terminate former mob boss Luciano Marcus on the steps of Boston's Symphony Hall, it puts a definite damper on Jackson's and bride Zee Madieras's newlywedded bliss'especially when the mayhem follows them back home to Martha's Vineyard.

A part-time Vineyard resident himself, Marcus wants J.W. to find out who is behind the botched hit'an assignment the laid-back ex-cop can't refuse, since lady love Zee saw one of the would-be assassins and is now in peril herself. But with everyone from gangland rivals to Wampanoag Indians wishing Marcus harm, keeping the circling island sharks from the kill might be more than J.W. can handle.

Vineyard Deceit: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries (Avon Books))

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.

Second Sight: A Brady Coyne/J.W. Jackson Mystery (Brady Coyne and J. W. Jackson Novels)

Veteran mystery novelists and longtime fishing buddies Craig and Tapply are back with their second joint novel. Filled with charming vignettes of Martha's Vineyard, Second Sight is a page turning novel of suspense.

A Deadly Vineyard Holiday (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries)

At first, the girl J. W. Jackson encounters strolling alone along South Beach seems like your typical teenager. But there's nothing typical about young Cricket Callahan, the spirited only daughter of the vacationing President of the United States. What ex-cop-turned fisherman Jackson can't figure out is why the feisty First Kid is so intent upon eluding her Secret Service guardians. . .or why the Chief Executive himself wants J. W. and his lovely lady Zee to watch over the errant sixteen-year-old.

The answer comes in the form of a dead body--and in the subsequent knowledge that a diabolical someone is able to crack the security surrounding Cricket as handily as J. W. cracks quahogs at a Vineyard clambake. And not even executive privilege will be able to shield the President's daughter from grievous harm, unless Jackson can root out a .vengeful killer who may be hiding among the ranks of the President's most trusted paladins.

First Light: The First Ever Brady Coyne/J.W. Jackson Mystery

While visiting Martha's Vineyard to help a client write her will, Brady Coyne visits an old friend, J.W. Jackson. Brady quickly discovers that more than a few people are after the estate of his client. The two eventually join forces, and the case in this captivating book.

When two acclaimed crime novelists and fishing buddies, Philip R. Craig and William G. Tapply, join their remarkable talents, it's the best of both worlds for readers of the first ever Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson mystery. It's September on Martha's Vineyard, and J.W. is contemplating the serious matter of a tree house for his children and some good fishing in the annual striped bass and bluefish derby with his friend, Boston lawyer Brady Coyne, who'll be on the island to help the elderly Sarah Fairchild write her will. J.W. has a little business, too, having reluctantly agreed to spend some of his valuable surf casting time trying to find a missing woman named Katherine Bannerman, who was last seen on the island a year ago. For Brady and J.W. it'll be law and detecting during the day, but by night they will roam the far Vineyard beaches in search of prizewinning catches. But soon another woman goes missing, a local bully threatens both Brady and J.W., and Brady discovers that more than a few people desperately crave his client's estate. With two hundred acres of pristine Vineyard land in a frail, elderly woman's control, the stakes are high. For J.W., his case gets personal when someone slashes his wife's tires. As J.W. prowls the Vineyard's villages in search of the slasher and the two missing women and Brady defends his client's interests against an array of warring factions, the two friends come to suspect that a killer is loose on the island. What they do not know is that they themselves will soon be in danger. People are not always what they seem, and there are snakes under the rocks, even in Eden. By turns charming and suspenseful, contemporary and evocative, First Light could only have been imagined in the collective mind of these two superb authors. Includes three recipes.