Victoria Trumbull - Cynthia Riggs

Cynthia Riggs

Cynthia Riggs has been a geologist, operator of the Chesapeake Bay Ferry, and a rigger on Martha's Vinyard.

This series is based on Martha's Vinyard, and stars the nonagenarian, Victoria Trumbull. The atmosphere and characters of the New England setting are wonderfully done. If you have any experience with people from this area you'll have plenty to chuckle at. I love the details of the island setting and the unusual place names. This is regional fiction at its best.

One small warning- language is not toned down.

#1- Deadly Nightshade (2001)

#2- The Cranefly Orchid Murders (2002)

#3- The Cemetery Yew (2003)

#4- Jack in the Pulpit (2004)

#5- The Paperwhite Narcissus (2005)
The publisher of the local paper, Colly Jameson, is receiving threatening letters, and all of them seem to be in response to unexplained accidents or deaths in the area. The truth is that nobody likes Colly anyway. He's a narcissistic bully with 4 ex-wives and one unhappy current wife. He is firing staff members, claiming he doesn't need them in the summer when the truth is that he just wasn't to use college-age interns for free.

However, an attempted murder, a successful murder, and an unexplained death all seem linked to Colly.

When he fires Victoria Trumbull, she goes to work for Tom Botts who is printing a weekly, one-page, alternative news sheet. She also gets Colly to pay her to find out who is sending the threatening letters.

#6- Indian Pipes (2006)

#7- Shooting Star (2007)

#8- Death and Honesty (2009)

#9- Touch-Me-Not (2010)

#10 The Bee Balm Murders (2011)