Off Season - Philip R. Craig

This fifth book in the acclaimed Martha's Vineyard series takes us to that celebrated Massachusetts island in winter. When a hunter assaults an animal-rights activist, sleuth J.W. Jackson finds himself embroiled in a particularly nasty case.

The dialogue is witty and the lifestyle hypnotic.--Booklist. n nTourist season may be over... nbut the killing season has njust begun.

nn nThere's nothing like Martha's Vineyard on these crisp autumn days, after the season has ended. Now that the off-islanders are finally off the island, ex-Boston cop J.W. Jackson is free to relax, fish, and make future plans with his lady love Zee.

But the natives are getting seriously restless this fall, with animal rights activists squaring off against deer slayers and environmentalists butting heads with land developers. Things have reached the boiling-over point -- and it's not long before verbal arrows become real ones. And when a most unlikely victim is caught in the lethal crossfire, Jackson can't just sit by idly with a fishing pole in his hand.

Someone has to lead the hunt for a killer, and J.W.'s the man -- even if there's a chance that he won't live to see next summer.n