| Margaret Barlow is an attractive, outgoing widowwho regards middle age with indifference andeverything else with passionate curiosity. She sa fiercely loyal friend, a fiendishly clever ad-versary, and when circumstances offer adaring detective. She has come to Martha sVineyard to vacation with her grandchildren andshare her devotion to hot air ballooning withher friend Essie.But the Vineyard s verdant calm is soon shat-tered by a grisly murder; Boston socialite RosePerkins is found floating in March House s or-namental pond. Suspicion at once falls uponAlgar Mikele, the owner of the Victorian man-sion and the husband of one of Margaret s goodfriends. But to Margaret s way of thinking, thereis no dearth of suspects--especially aftertwo more nasty deaths occur. There is EstellePerkins, the murdered woman s beautiful,spoiled daughter who pursues a life of de-bauchery with fading film star Ann Alfreda...Samantha Sanderson, the talented actress whomight have her own designs on March House...Dr. Glenn Rothenberg, the young physician witha particularly suspicious secret. But a suddenshift in circumstances--prompted by yet another ghastly murder- makes Margaret herselflook like the guilty party, and she finds herselfjust as suddenly fleeing from the island in a hotair balloon, where the truth about the real mur-derer offers no comfort.With its magnificent perennial gardens, its sundappled waters, its oddly harmonious archi-tecture, and its equally odd mixture of summerresidents, Martha s Vineyard is a perfect backdrop for this stunning novel with one of themost likable amateur sleuths in modern fiction. |
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