DEADLY NIGHTSHADE

The first mystery from lifelong Martha’s Vineyard resident Riggs tosses in what you might expect from her home base—clams, weathered docks, folksy locals—as well as a couple of outré murders, one by disembowelment and another by harpoon stabbing. Victoria Trumbull, a crusty nonagenarian, hears but doesn’t quite see the last struggles of Bernie Marble, who is soon missing most of his nether parts. Could his tragic loss have something to do with the reorganizing that new harbormaster Domingo, a former New York cop, is doing? Working with him to tidy up slip rentals and such is Victoria’s granddaughter Elizabeth. In no time at all Elizabeth and Domingo (who calls Elizabeth “sweetheart” till you feel seasick) are running afoul of the Harbor Advisory Committee; wondering how a retired professor can afford a $5 million house; deciding that Meatloaf, who drives the medi-van, is really a drug courier; and sidestepping a batch of thugs who’d like to silence them permanently. No such luck, though. Domingo’s wall decoration, an antique harpoon, pierces Meatloaf, a DEA agent surfaces, and nightshade turns out to be growing in most everyone’s garden. Dojan, an irascible Gay Head Indian, drifts in and out, alternating with the Secret Service, on hand to safeguard the visiting president. Amateur sleuthing will save the day, along with a good whack from Victoria’s cane.

Alternately cutesy and bloodthirsty, with no end in sight. Not even the last page offers the promise of relief, since Book Two is in the works.