The Paperwhite Narcissus

by Cynthia Riggs

Book Overview

In this fifth book in the Victoria Trumbull series, the ninety-two-year-old sleuth finds herself embroiled in a series of murders after she is fired from her job as West Tisbury correspondent for "The Island Enquirer "(the editor claims the newspaper needs a younger look). Victoria, determined to show that age is no barrier to news papering, immediately throws her weight behind "The Grackle," intent on turning the two-page West Tisbury newsletter...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312339836
• ISBN13: 9780312339838
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Enjoyed the book. It is my first time reading Cynthia Rigg's mysteries.

Enjoyed all the characters, especially Victoria & Chief of Police. I would suggest ages 16 up to any adult, read her books. Easy to read and great plots.

Another good one

I totally enjoy all of this series...very entertaining diversions. Cynthia Riggs writes excellent dialogue and creates very believable characters.

Who's writing the obituaries?

Victoria Trumbull is 92 and lives on Martha's Vineyard. She gets fired from her job as West Tisbury correspondent for The Island Enquirer. The editor is going for a younger look. Victoria throws her weight behind The Grackle, a two-page West Tisbury newsletter, into a competitor of the Enquirer. The Grackle's editor doesn't want it to grow, but Victoria takes over. The Enquirer's editor has been receiving obituaries naming him as the deceased. Since they follow the deaths of people close to him, he can't laugh them off as jokes. He rehires Victoria to discover the identity of the obituary writer. Since she knows everyone on the island, she sets out to find the writer and hopefully not need one written for herself. I really enjoy Victoria. She is such a spitfire at 92. She is the type of person I would enjoy hanging around. Martha's Vineyard is one of my favorite settings for mysteries. The author has done a great job with the plot and provided many twists and turns to keep us guessing. I highly recommend this book.

A Vineyard soap opera mystery

Victoria Trumbull has lived on Martha's Vineyard her entire life -- all 92 years of it. Not only does she know every inch of the island, but she also knows everyone on it. She's the perfect person to help solve the mystery of the chilling obituaries that newspaper editor Colley Jameson keeps receiving -- ones that feature himself as the deceased. Chapter by chapter, author Riggs introduces us to a variety of characters whose paths must eventually cross and criss-cross again. In soap opera fashion, everyone seems to have been married or involved with everybody else in the community. (Writer Tom Dwyer should seem vaguely familiar to those who have read Philip R. Craig's books.) When people start dying and Colley's fake obits come too close to reality, Victoria vows to get to the bottom of it all. She is a feisty senior whose quirky approach to investigation is fun to follow to the end. An entertaining read for cozy mystery afficionadoes.

delightful cozy

On Martha's Vineyard, ninety two year old Victoria Trumbull is fired from her job at the Island Enquirer where she has been writing the West Tisbury column for over a half a century. Publisher Colley Jameson feels he can get someone to work the section cheaper. Shortly thereafter, he gets a fake obituary notice that he believes Victoria sent to him but she denies it vehemently. Instead the nonagenarian goes to work for the West Tisbury Grackle a one page broadsheet published by William Botts. When Colley's biggest advertiser is killed, a second obituary notice arrives. When one of his ex-wives gets shot, he receives a third obit. Colley hires Victoria to find out who the writer is even though she has increased the circulation of the Grackle forcing Mr. Botts, who wanted to do the paper as a retirement hobby, to hire more staff. When Colley's ex-wife is shot and then killed in the hospital by candy laced with cyanide is killed by candy laced with cyanide another obituary notice arrives. Victoria figures out who the obituary writer is but believes that person is not the killer. The last obituary notice happens when Colley's lawyer is murdered. The crime wave comes to a climax when the two suspects meet with Victoria because they need her help. The protagonist may be ninety-two but she has more energy than people half her age. Poor Mr. Botts didn't have a chance when Victoria changed his broadsheet into a sixteen pager with pictures and a staff of eight. The authorities think that none of the murders are linked but Victoria is determined to prove otherwise and ends up saving Colley's life when someone lures him into a trap. Cynthia Riggs has written a delightful cozy starring a likable protagonist. Harriet Klausner