Vineyard Shadows (Hardcover)

J.W. is retired on disability from the Boston P.D. after being shot while on duty. He lives on Martha's Vineyard with his wife, Zee, their two young children, and two cats (but no dog in spite of his children's pleas). His preference for retirement is fishing, claming, occasional boating, and socializing with family and friends. His quiet life is disrupted by intruders from the mainland, in this case his ex-wife's husband and the hard cases looking for him for reasons not entirely clear (the man is not overly truthful about circumstances).

Yuppies spending themselves into debt, gambling, drugs, two timing men and women, criminal elements, and J.W.'s old Boston friends all figure into the plot. Two thugs make a bad mistake (fatal for one) when they try to rough up Zee. Zee then gets irked when J.W. tries to help his ex-wife by pulling her husband out of the hole he dug himself into. The plot, as they say, thickens. It takes a major effort by J.W. to restore things to a peaceful retirement. His children acquire some goldfish, but no dog, at least not yet.

Two Boston hoods threaten and assault JW's wife and daughter while he is off clamming. They are looking for the husband of a woman to whom JW was once married. It is their bad luck that Zee, JW's present wife is packing. She was preparing to leave for the pistol range where she shoots competitively when they arrive. Soon after, the man the hoods were looking for turns up on JW's doorstep seeking asylum. JW decides he must find out what is going on in order to protect his own family and lend a helping hand to his ex-wife.

JW Jackson strikes me as a funnier, less pompous, domesticated relative of Robert Parker's Spenser. He confronts the kingpin of the Charlston Irish Mafia, as Spenser would. He milks old friends in law enforcement for information. Judged by the length of time it takes him to solve the central puzzle in the story, JW isn't as smart as Spenser -- or the average reader, for that matter. But then he doesn't have a sidekick like Hawk.