The Paperwhite Narcissus

A Martha's Vineyard Mystery

By: Cynthia Riggs

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Cynthia Riggs draws from a lifetime's intimacy with fabled Martha's Vineyard and its people to create an irresistible series filled with murder and a unique atmosphere.

A small town, even one detached from the mainland, has its share of unpleasant residents. When a developer with an unhappy wife, a bullish attitude toward women, and a much-frowned-upon plan is murdered, not many tears are shed. The case naturally falls to Victoria Trumbull, the 92-year-old, sharp-witted sheriff's deputy. Served by her in-depth knowledge of the island and her indomitable drive, Victoria is on the trail again: bunions, lilac-bough cane, and all.

©2005 Cynthia Riggs (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

What would Ms Riggs grandmother think?

Ms Porter's performance is excellent. Ms Riggs' story is quite good; but, I wonder what her grandmother would think about all of the blatant profanity? Profanity spoils any story, no matter how good it might be. 😕

Absolutely great

If you could sum up The Paperwhite Narcissus in three words, what would they be?

Over the top.

What other book might you compare The Paperwhite Narcissus to and why?

None that I know of

Have you listened to any of Davina Porter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I love all of her performances.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Great question. No answer

Any additional comments?

Overall I loved this story.

love the old lady.

Holds your interest and the ending is a surprise. Love the journey to get to the person who committed the murders

That'll teach him!

This has been an exceptionally good series. The character Victoria is just an outstanding character. She's 92 and still going strong. I love that her logical approach to finding the perpetrator is always explained at the end. The narration by Davina Porter as always is perfect.

Murders and Obituary Notices

One of the best in the series! Victoria Trumbull (age 92) is fired from her job at the Island Enquirer newspaper where she's been writing her column for over fifty years . . . even though she had just saved the newspaper editor, Colley Jameson from his own demise after he got his necktie caught in the printing press. Undeterred, Victoria took her business elsewhere, and the built up the Enquirer's competition, The West Tisbury Grackle. With The Grackle's circulation growing leaps and bounds, it has Colley Jameson worried. 😂 But not as much as the obituary notices he keeps receiving of his own death. 😳 As much as he hates it, he is forced to hire Victoria to find out who is sending him the obituary notices. Meanwhile murders keep happening . . . and each time they do, Colley gets another obituary notice. This story keeps taking twists and turns, but Victoria manages to keep up with them all. Great mystery!

A good beginning to a cozy series

This is a cozy with a clever twist. The lead character is a 92 year old female sheriff's deputy and columnist for the local paper. For those of us who can claim to be of "a certain age," that is certainly an inspiration! :-). I worried at first that those would be character qualities that would make a mystery book so unbelievable that it would be hard to listen to. Happily, I was wrong!

Victoria is a feisty lady who knows the community and has plenty of life experience and a bit of intuitive wisdom that leads other people to turn to her for help when a series of murders start occurring on the island. She seems to be able to see the same clues others see, but to draw the correct conclusions when the murders keep happening.

One thing that I noticed about this book is that Victoria tends to respect her own age-related limits. Although she has plenty of spunk, and often rallies others follow up clues (and she is often right there with them), she is not depicted as a woman who takes ridiculous chances that leave her vulnerable to danger ( as so many authors seem compelled to do with their protagonists). This supports my long-held contention that some authors contrive situations where the protagonist does dangerous (even dumb) things that belie the credibility of that person to be wise enough to put the clues together and solve the crime. I really liked that Cynthia Riggs created a truly realistic character. Women can be wise without having to be silly.

I think that Davina Porter did a great job of finding different voices for many different characters (no easy task for a cast as large as is found in this book). My only complaint was that she read it maddeningly slowly! I hope that that was not an insinuation that because the protagonist is an elderly woman, the reader (of any age) must be slow in taking in the story and clues :-)

Actually, this is a pretty neat little cozy. One murder is a trifle grisly, but we only hear about it after the fact. Though there are rather a lot of characters to sort out, it is very easy to keep up. If you are looking for something engaging but on the light side, this is surely it!



















A

A winner of a series

I got the first book of this series because I enjoy the sound of the narrator's voice. (Davina Porter) I think of her accent as British, but it works well as New England. I did not have high hopes about the stories, I mean, a 92 yo protagonist? (Of course, I am now approaching 60 and I squirm to remember thinking that 60 was pretty old...)

I have been pleasantly gratified to enjoy interesting plots, well-rounded, three dimensional characters, and mystery that keeps me listening. And so far, all the books have been included in my membership!

Extremely boring...

Tried my best & restarted the book multiple times but just could not get interested....Bored me to sleep

Language makes these unlikeable

Even though every thing else was likeable, the language was not. So I am not listening any more.