Touch-Me-Not

Cynthia Riggs' Touch-Me-Not will keep you on the edge of your seat as you devour this tale of how easily a man's life can unravel. Unlike with the usual mystery -- whether Riggs' or anyone else's -- you'll know the perpetrator of one of the two mysteries in this book from the very first chapter. What will surprise you is how quickly and how abjectly electrician LeRoy Watts' life spirals out of control. As usual, the uncanny Victoria Trumbull -- the perennially 92-year-old poet, sage, sheriff's deputy and sleuth -- becomes the first to suspect that LeRoy Watts -- exemplary businessman, father, Boy Scout troop leader, and pillar of his church and community -- isn't all he's cracked up to be; however, that mystery takes a backseat to a show more self-destructive spiral worthy of a Greek tragedy.

Victoria also determines how this first mystery ties into a second that develops in the second half of the book. Yet a third sub-plot involves Victoria's daughter, Amelia, the mother of Victoria's beloved granddaughter Elizabeth; Amelia Trumbull comes from San Francisco to visit, concerned that her mother is over-exerting herself at 92 and should consider relocating to a retirement home in San Francisco. Appalled, Victoria comes up with a plan to thwart any such thing!

Riggs, the 13th generation of her family to call Martha's Vineyard home, as always, makes the island seem a character in the novel. Whether a lesson on the Touch-Me-Not plant or lush description of delicate Ladyslipper orchids, readers feel as if Riggers were taking them on a personal tour of Martha's Vineyard. I learn so much botany and natural science from reading Riggs' novels! That has been true even in some recent novels, Shooting Star and Death and Honesty, which have not been up to Riggs' usual high standard. While those novels were still fun, the endings were patently unbelievable.

But no fear of that in the case of this book, Riggs' ninth Victoria Trumbull novel. While I truly loved The Cemetery Yew or Jack in the Pulpit, Touch-Me-Not may be Riggs' best book yet. show less

I have not read all of the books in this series yet, but this one grabbed me from the first pages, with its bumbling murderer and his comedy of errors. I love the character of Victoria Trumbull, the 92-year-old sleuth in the series, and the setting of Martha's Vineyard, with its influx of tourists every summer. A delight.

Smart inspiring read with lots of red herrings. Loved learning about mathematical knitting.