Death and Honesty

West Tisbury's civil servants are dropping like flies -- whether to murder or attempted murder -- and it will take Victoria Trumbull -- poet, sage, police deputy (with a great baseball cap to prove it!) and perennially 92 years of age -- to discover why.

The eighth of Cynthia Riggs's excellent series opens with the discovery of a corpse in the home of one of West Tisbury's three tax assessors, all of whom are in their 70s. Victoria soon discovers that the assessors and the town's tax assessor have established what they quaintly term a "setting-aside account" -- that is, a bank account where they stow the money they've been skimming from inflating property assessments for decades. Add to that the intersecting tale of the unseemly show more television evangelist/minister and his pretty and much younger wife, and Death and Honesty delivers a suspenseful and often humorous story. I devoured the book in less than 24 hours!

Death and Honesty is better than its immediate predecessor, Shooting Star, which was a bit too much over the top. Sure, the authorities in Death and Honesty seem much more trusting of these little old ladies in Town Hall than I suspect their real-life, cynical counterparts would be. And the Reverend Henry True's wife, who goes by the name of Delilah Sampson, with her suggestive Biblical name, gold high-heel sandals, wandering eye, and ditzy nature is painted with a bit of a broad brush. But she's still a fun addition to the characters. Riggs, herself a 14th generation resident of Martha's Vineyard, provides a lovely look at the stark beauty of the island. All in all, a satisfying read.

While Death and Honesty doesn't rise to the level of high literature -- or even to the level of Riggs' best novels, The Cemetery Yew or Jack in the Pulpit, you won't regret the hours you spend with Victoria Trumbull and the other denizens of Martha's Vineyard. show less