Third Strike: A Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson Mystery

Eminent mystery authors Philip R. Craig and William G. Tapply team up for a richly nuanced new installment in the Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson series that is a tribute not only to two witty smart fictional sleuths but also to the enduring friendship of their creators. Its late August just when thousands of vacationers on beautiful Marthas Vineyard are preparing to go home so the kids can return to school. Theres a problem though. A union has gone on strike paralyzing the Steamship Authority which runs the ferries to America and creating panic and anger among many tourists and islanders alike. When an explosion destroys a boats engine room and kills the striker who apparently planted the bomb J. W. Jackson once a Boston cop but now an island man-of-all-work reluctantly agrees to the widows pleas that he attempt to prove her husband innocent of the crime. As J.W. begins inquiries he discovers a complex series of relationships among strikers scabs and boat owners and encounters violence of his own. Meanwhile Boston attorney Brady Coyne gets a call from a former client now living full-time on the Vineyard who tells him about a group of armed men loading and unloading mysterious crates at a dock at midnight. Jackson and Coyne get together and discover that not only are their cases connected but that time is running out for them to prevent a crime that could have international ramifications -- and their only hope will be to confront dedicated killers face-to-face....With its winning contrast of page-turning suspense and evocative Vineyard ambiance Third Strike is crime fiction at its best.