Second Sight

December 6, 2004
Boston lawyer Brady Coyne and retired cop J.W. Jackson uncover more mischief on the tourist-mecca island of Martha's Vineyard in Craig and Tapply's second collaborative outing (after 2002's First Light
). Coyne traces a runaway teenage girl to the Vineyard, where he bunks in his old friend J.W.'s charming family cottage. Jackson, meanwhile, has been hired to chauffeur and provide security for a famous reclusive singer during the week of a major rock concert celebrating human rights. When the singer's bodyguard turns up dead, the investigation leads to a spiritual retreat. Coyne and Jackson's paths intersect as they try to infiltrate the cultish shrine whose mesmerizing leader, a former lover of the rock star, is surrounded by armed apostles. Increasing violence portends growing urgency, but doesn't prevent old friends Coyne and Jackson from enjoying fishing, sunset cocktails and the island's traditional New England fare. The authors effectively volley the tension back and forth between the voices of the veteran sleuths. The characters feel authentic, as does the flavor of Martha's Vineyard, though the plot is a bit far-fetched, with most of the page-turning action bottlenecked at the end. Voyeurs of island life and fans of both writers' series will appreciate this duet. Agents, Jane Otte (Craig) and Fred Morris at the Jed Mattes Agency (Tapply).

December 15, 2004
Looking for a certain young woman, Boston lawyer Brady Coyne visits Martha's Vineyard, where PI Jackson is bodyguard for a famous singer. Both protagonists begin to realize that something shady is going on with regard to an upcoming mega concert featuring religious, political, and entertainment figures. As the event grows nearer, their attention focuses on a charismatic (but well-guarded) religious leader. Scintillating plotting from the authors of First Light . Craig (A Vineyard Killing ) lives in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard. Tapply (Bitch Creek ) lives in Hancock, N.H.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2005
Attorney Brady Coyne, barrister to Boston's elite, regularly indulges in more harrowing pursuits. When an old college classmate, Mike Doyle, solicits his help, Brady can't imagine the reason. Doyle, he learns, is dying from a parasite absorbed while serving in the Peace Corps as a young man. He wants Brady to find Christa, his runaway daughter, before he dies. Brady's search takes him to the West Coast and back to Cape Cod, where he bivouacs with his fishing buddy, retired cop J. W. Jackson, who has a freelance gig of his own: serving as local bodyguard for a singing megastar on the Cape for a hip-hop Woodstock. Brady has clues that Christa may have come back East for the event. Tapply's Coyne and Craig's Jackson have a legion of fans from their own series, and both camps will come away satisfied here. Collaborations--between authors, between sleuths created by the same author, or between both--are often awkward, but this one, like the initial Craig-Tapply effort, " First Light" (2002), is an entertaining exception.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)