THE BEE BALM MURDERS

Another adventure for Martha’s Vineyard’s oldest sleuth.

Victoria Trumbull’s boarder Orion Nanopoulis has started laying a fiber-optic network across the island. He’s big on plans but short on cash, and his troubles only grow when one of his potential investors is found murdered in a cable ditch. Angelo Vulpone may have had mob connections, but his two sons, convinced that his death was not a mob hit, hire Victoria, 92, to ferret out the truth. It seems that Orion has been bamboozled by sly Dorothy Roche, who with the help of a young venture capitalist is trying to hijack the company. Another possible investor who has a past history with Vulpone also wants a share in the company. None of the suspects are quite who they claim to be. So Victoria welcomes the skills of a young computer hacker the Vulpone brothers have provided to help her winkle out the murderer. Another valentine to the beauties of Martha’s Vineyard and the wintry Victoria (Touch-Me-Not, 2010, etc.), who solves the featherweight mystery as handily as any 92-year-old.