Victoria Trumbull may be ninety-two, but she is as sharp as the proverbial tack. So when she is the only one to spot something amiss in the town cemetery, the police chief listens. Something is indeed amiss. First comes a request to disinter a coffin for reburying elsewhere. Then things go wrong from there.

Cynthia Riggs, a thirteenth-generation Islander, lives on Martha’s Vineyard in her family homestead, now a bed-and-breakfast catering to poets and writers. She has a degree in geology from Antioch College, an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, and a U.S. Coast Guard Masters License.