SummaryWith the arrival of warm weather and good fishing, life
should be great for J. W. Jackson and his wife, Zee.
Martha's Vineyard may be no Eden, but J.W. wouldn't trade
it for any other place on earth. Something's wrong, though. The morning newspaper brings an
update on the case of the Headless Horseman, a headless and
handless corpse found on a local bridle path six months
ago. Such murders are rare on the Vineyard, and J.W. can't
help but wonder if a killer is still wandering free on the
island. Something's wrong at home, too. Zee does her usual
efficient job at the emergency room but with J.W. and the
two kids she seems curiously distant. If she's going
through the seven-year itch, J.W. will give her time. He
loves her and hopes she'll soon remember that she loves
him. Meanwhile, J.W. gets a distraction in the form of Abraham
Mahsimba, a mysterious man from Zimbabwe in East Africa.
Mahsimba enlists J.W.'s help in the search for two ancient
soapstone eagles, carved seven hundred years ago and
spirited out of Africa in the 1960s. Mahsimba has followed
their trail to the Vineyard. He'll pay what it takes to
bring them home. J.W. agrees to assist, though he doesn't know much about
art. And he certainly doesn't anticipate what will happen
when Zee meets Mahsimba. The man has a charisma that's hard
to resist. Nor can J.W. know that his search for the eagles will pit
him against some of the most powerful figures in the
Vineyard's art world, including some who would stop at
nothing to add forbidden objects to their collections. And
there's still the unsolved case of the Headless Horseman.
Could the Horseman's death have anything to do with the
eagles? With the author's usual rich blend of suspense, fishing,
food, and family, set against the invigorating backdrop of
beautiful Martha's Vineyard, Vineyard Enigma is the perfect
summer read from an acclaimed and much-loved author.
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