NOTE DE L'ÉDITEUR : At first, the girl J. W. Jackson encounters strolling alone along South Beach seems like your typical teenager. But there's nothing typical about young Crocket Callahan, the spirited only daughter of the vacationing President of the United States. What ex-cop-turned-fisherman Jackson can't figure out is why the feisty First Kid is so intent upon eluding her Secret Service guardians ... or why the Chief Executive himself wants J. W. and his lovely lady Zee to watch over the errant sixteen-year-old.

The answer comes in the form of a dead body — and in the subsequent knowledge that a diabolical someone is able to crack the security surrounding Cricket as handily as J. W. cracks quahogs at a Vineyard clambake. And not even executive privilege will be able to shield the President's daughter from grievous harm, unless Jackson can root out a vengeful killer who may be hiding among the ranks of the President's most trusted paladins.

Faute de prendre des vacances à Martha's Vineyard, il reste la possibilité de lire les romans policiers de Philip R. Craig (1933-2007). Les sites y sont, connus ou moins, tout autant que ce qui fait la trame de la vie quotidienne sur l'île.

L'intrigue est-elle superflue ? Non — le ressort et le cadre du récit sont étroitement interdépendants.

Une veine féconde ; du vivant de Philip Craig, la série des Martha's Vineyard Mysteries s'est enrichie d'un titre chaque année depuis 1989 :

• A beautiful place to die (1989)
• The woman who walked into the sea (1991)
• The double minded men (1992)
• Cliff hanger (1993)
• Off season (1994)
• A case of Vineyard poison (1995)
• Death on a Vineyard beach (1996)
• A deadly Vineyard holiday (1997 : 1^e éd. chez Scribner)
  
• A shoot on Martha's Vineyard (1998)
• A fatal vineyard season (1999)
• Vineyard blues (2000)
• Vineyard shadows (2001)
• Vineyard enigma (2002)
• A Vineyard killing (2003)
• Murder at a Vineyard mansion (2004)
• Vineyard prey (2005)
• Dead in Vineyard sand (2006)
• Vineyard stalker (2007)
• Vineyard chill (2008)