Mystery

It's a picture-perfect Vineyard summer, and ex-Boston cop J.W. Jackson finds time for lazy afternoons at the beach with his wife, Zee, and the kids. Nothing could be better, but of course not everything is peaceful, even on this idyllic island. A teenage girl has already drowned in an early-summer tragedy. The more superficial conflict du jour centers on a group of cyclists, led by irascible environmentalist Henry Highsmith, who fervently oppose new construction, including plans for a luxurious new golf course.

J.W. is not part of the golf course battle, at least not until he and a bad-tempered Highsmith come to blows at the local fish shop. The dispute is not over fish. J.W. parked his vehicle too close to Highsmith's fancy bike, an unpardonable offense. Is there more to the J.W.-Highsmith feud than seems to be the case? Some people think so, especially when an SUV suspiciously like J.W.'s forces Highsmith's wife, Abigail, off her bicycle, sending her to the emergency room.

When J.W.'s rich businessman friend Glen Norton invites him to join a golfing foursome at Waterwoods, the island's prettiest club, he's happy to accept. At least he's certain not to run into Highsmith on the manicured greens. J.W. is not much of a golfer, but Zee hopes he'll get some exercise and stay out of trouble.

Wrong. Trouble is waiting for J.W. in the sand trap at the fourth hole -- the sand trap with the human hand protruding from below. The hand is connected to abody, and it's clearly a case of murder. With circumstantial evidence pointing to J.W., he must act fast, peeling back layers of deceit surrounding old Vineyard families in his search for a killer.

Alive with the sights, smells, and tastes of Philip R. Craig's beloved island, "Dead in Vineyard Sand" includes three classic recipes, featuring the decadent Lobsters, Croissants, and Champagne. Just in time for summer reading, this appealing blend of Vineyard ambiance and intrigue will thrill both beachgoers and city dwellers looking for vicarious pleasure.

Includes three delicious recipes

Cassandra Patton Conover is about to become an outlaw.
Hiding out from middle age, divorce, and the remains of a legislative lobbying career, Patton is holed up in her family's ancient Maine camp. While searching for her badly-behaved, wayward dog in dense woods, she finds her best friend crushed under a tree. Then she finds tracks larger than any animal she knows and a mystery only wild animals can help her solve.

Before she can absorb the loss of her friend, a large newspaper that smells a story hires Patton to guide a surly reporter seeking extinct wolves he thinks have returned to Maine. The forest, however, has too many wolf agendas. A billionaire hopes wolves will become a save-the-forest strategy. A timber company plans to exterminate the pack, and a black ops mercenary rips open Patton's wounded life so he can aim her at the wolves.

When gold wolf eyes issue a challenge at her tent door, Patton is drawn deeper into her friend's mysterious murder and the wolves' fate. To find her friend's killer, she must find and trust the pack. To save her dog, the wolves, and her own life, she must step outside the law, sacrifice her career, and embrace a wild world. (Sandra won the Mystery Writers of America national McCloy Award and was a finalist in the Women's Fiction Writers Association "Rising Star" contest.)