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Deadly Nightshade Audiobook
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(2.96) - 263 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Martha's Vineyard has been home to Victoria Trumbull for most of her ninety-two years. Its magic, history, and picture-perfect calm are part of her very being. Like other Islanders, she knows the sounds of the sea in calm and stormy weather—and she knows sounds that do not belong. One evening, Victoria is waiting on the dock for her granddaughter to return with the harbormaster when she hears a chilling scream followed by a splash and the sound of tires skidding on sand. She investigates and discovers a mutilated body floating on the outgoing tide.
Despite interruptions from her granddaughter Elizabeth, the harbormaster Domingo, a swarm of Island locals, and a few mysterious visitors, Victoria manages to get in a good bit of detective work and still find time to cook her traditional Saturday-night supper of Boston baked beans. She even concocts a scheme to trap the killer. But she'll need to act quickly because victim number two has already been found.
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"Elderly woman, harbor master and assistant harbor master solve crimes committed in their area."
— Janet (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Feisty, fiercely independent nonagenarian poet Victoria Trumbull makes a welcome debut in Riggs’ first novel…Everyone should have such a terrific grandmother.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Enjoyable…Victoria’s legendary pluckiness borders on the deranged [and] Porter gives it the skill she would bring to high art…It goes a long way.”
— AudioFile -
“Victoria’s mordant wit and easy cleverness add to this vastly entertaining debut series.”
— Library Journal -
“First-rate plotting notwithstanding, it is Riggs’ wonderful cast of characters that brings her novel to life. In addition to the endearing yet never sentimentalized Victoria, the supporting figures are uniformly compelling and thoroughly believable.”
— Booklist -
“Tight plotting and engaging characters make this mystery a winner. Porter gives a full-voiced performance, doing a convincing elderly female, an imperious Latino harbormaster, teens, and snooty townies.”
— Kliatt -
“The island itself becomes a major character, one that Riggs depicts with exquisite attention to details, sounds, and colors…The narrator, with her range of voices and grasp of natural speech patterns, is ideal for this leisurely paced tale…A rousing good yarn and ample evidence of Riggs’ extraordinary gift for intrigue and description.”
— ForeWord -
“Combine[s] the best ingredients of mystery and fine writing, great characters, and brilliant descriptions of the sounds, smells, and visuals of the magic of Martha’s Vineyard…I loved it.”
— Nancy Slonim Aronie, former NPR commentator and writing instructor at Harvard University -
“With Deadly Nightshade we have a wonderful and welcom debut, not only of one of the feistiest sleuths you’ll ever encounter in ninety-two-year-old Victoria Trumbull, but also of an accomplished novelist, one Cynthia Riggs, who does not fail to tell a compelling and funny and mysterious and downright joyful whodunit. May many more books follow this one!”
— Bret Lott, author of Jewel and The Hunt Club
Deadly Nightshade Listener Reviews
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" This mystery ended a bit abruptly, but was okay. I still love the strong women and Dojan a lot. "
— Diane, 2/17/2014 -
" This could have been a cute cozy- except for the awful language from everyone! "
— Sharon, 1/27/2014 -
" I had never heard the term "geezer lit" prior to reading other people's reviews of this book. The heroine is 90, so I guess she qualifies. She's much more active than Ms. Marple and doesn't draw on her experiences as a youth for her crime-solving, so I'm not exactly sure why the author made her so elderly. The clues for this mystery were a bit ham-fisted. I found the weapon. Here is a note, etc... I would stick with Agatha Christie. She's much more of an artist. As a side note, I listened to this on audiobook and although it was set in Martha's Vineyard, MA, the reader was British and gave all of the old men Scotch and Irish accents. Weird. Couldn't they find a northeastern reader? "
— Kelly, 1/20/2014 -
" I didn't think this book was all that great, but it wasn't bad either. It was an easy read and that was about it. It was easy to figure out from the beginning who the bad guy was. "
— Teresa, 1/17/2014 -
" Pretty boring and hard to follow "
— Lindsay, 1/9/2014 -
" listening on cd, the british accent of the elderly protaganist is already getting annoying. Characters are overdone so far, only just started yesterday... "
— Sally, 12/29/2013 -
" The book was interesting if a little predictable. I liked the fact that the main character was 92 and a spitfire. "
— Angie, 12/21/2013 -
" You can get Victoria Trumbull's Boston Baked Beans on the author's website. It looks pretty good. "
— Evelyn, 12/12/2013 -
" I tried. I really tried. But I just could not get into this book. I usually force myself to finish a book even if I end up skipping half of it but I didn't even read the end of this one because I just didn't care. I have never read gezzer lit before and maybe I shouldn't. "
— Elizabeth, 12/2/2013 -
" Has the potential to be a good series. Like the characters. "
— Barbara, 11/28/2013 -
" All in all a good book, kind of lags in the middle though. Really good ending,though slightly predictable. "
— Emma, 11/28/2013 -
" Book on CD. I am having trouble getting past the English accent of the reader when this book is set on Marthas' Vineyard. The reacer tries to do different voices but in the end all the characters speak with an English accent. Annoying. "
— Marianne, 11/14/2013 -
" Some good characters in this New England yarn, and the plot isn't bad. But the pace is slower than I like and the plot rather straightforward. "
— Kathy, 11/3/2013 -
" Book was o.k. nothing to write home about. The author used the word sweetheart so many times I wanted to slap her. Three times in one pragraph - really... The story line was o.k. I don't think the book was very well written. "
— Darlene, 8/12/2013 -
" Hard to stay focused on this book. I will have to try again at a later date. "
— Shawna, 7/1/2013 -
" Good mystery. Enjoyed the gardening references, great creation of a small east coast port town. Will probably read the next one. "
— Jannell, 4/28/2013 -
" Charming characters, but we're asked to accept frustrating plot inefficiencies and frustrating character blindness to what's right in front of them. I was entertained and glad that I read this book. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for light diversion. "
— Arlen, 2/5/2013 -
" My first book from this author and I thought it was a good cozy mystery. I loved the setting and learning about boating. I could tell the author is really informed about boating and has had experience. The characters are fun and murder mysteries light in severity. "
— Cathie, 10/22/2012 -
" Most cozy mysteries are yawners, and not very well written, so Deadly Nightshade came as a pleasant surprise. Light, fun, and intelligent. "
— Linda, 5/14/2012 -
" i thought i'd enjoy the local setting but couldn't understand why a woman with an English accent would be the narrator "
— Susan, 12/4/2011 -
" This could have been a cute cozy- except for the awful language from everyone! "
— Sharon, 5/2/2011 -
" Charming characters, but we're asked to accept frustrating plot inefficiencies and frustrating character blindness to what's right in front of them. I was entertained and glad that I read this book. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for light diversion. "
— Arlen, 2/22/2011 -
" The book was interesting if a little predictable. I liked the fact that the main character was 92 and a spitfire. "
— Angie, 1/30/2011 -
" Hard to stay focused on this book. I will have to try again at a later date. "
— Shawna, 1/8/2011 -
" Book was o.k. nothing to write home about. The author used the word sweetheart so many times I wanted to slap her. Three times in one pragraph - really... The story line was o.k. I don't think the book was very well written. "
— Darlene, 11/22/2010 -
" Book on CD. I am having trouble getting past the English accent of the reader when this book is set on Marthas' Vineyard. The reacer tries to do different voices but in the end all the characters speak with an English accent. Annoying. "
— Marianne, 10/26/2009 -
" I didn't think this book was all that great, but it wasn't bad either. It was an easy read and that was about it. It was easy to figure out from the beginning who the bad guy was. "
— Teresa, 6/15/2009 -
" I tried. I really tried. But I just could not get into this book. I usually force myself to finish a book even if I end up skipping half of it but I didn't even read the end of this one because I just didn't care. I have never read gezzer lit before and maybe I shouldn't. "
— Elizabeth, 4/2/2009 -
" Most cozy mysteries are yawners, and not very well written, so Deadly Nightshade came as a pleasant surprise. Light, fun, and intelligent. "
— Linda, 9/6/2008 -
" All in all a good book, kind of lags in the middle though. Really good ending,though slightly predictable. "
— Emma, 6/27/2008 -
" These are wonderful novels. One wants to be Victoria and to experience the mystery and fun. "
— Lisa, 1/17/2008
About Cynthia Riggs
Cynthia Riggs, a thirteenth-generation Islander, lives on Martha’s Vineyard in her family homestead, now a bed-and-breakfast catering to poets and writers. She has a degree in geology from Antioch College, an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, and a US Coast Guard masters license.
About Davina Porter
Davina Porter has been enthralling listeners for over twenty-five years with her ability to mine the psychological depths of the characters she reads and bring them convincingly to life. In 2006, she won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Female Narration and in 2004 for Best Inspirational Literature Narration. She has been honored as an AudioFile Golden Voice and has won nineteen AudioFile Earphones Awards. As an actress, she has appeared on stage at the Vineyard Playhouse and the Square One Theater, among others.