It was an interesting read, however the ending was not satisfying. I love cozy mysteries so this felt right up my alley

A great book by a fantastic author. The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages. Characters are well developed. Highly recommend.

A refreshing mystery that is sure to charm fans of quaint cozy mysteries. I really enjoyed the plot and setting that the author created. There was plenty of engaging details and characters that made this reader devour the book in one day!

This is the 14th book in A Martha's Vineyard Mystery series, but the first that I read. I selected this book based on the cover before I realized this. I can't resist the island setting, the lighthouse and the flowers. Having said that, I did enjoy this book. This story is about an Italian "mafia" family whose father has disowned his selfish son. The son latches on to Penny Arbuthnot, thinking she has money. What he doesn't know is that Penny is penniless and in debt. She wants to marry Rocco Bufano, thinking he is rich. Penny asks her cousin, feisty 92-year-old Victoria Trumbull if she can have her wedding on her property at Martha's Vineyard. While preparing for the reception, an electrician finds a body hanging in Victoria's basement. The search begins first to determine who the dead man is, second to figure out who the murderer is. I have to say these two deserve each other, they are both very materialistic and Rocco is an absolute horrible character.

There are several things I enjoyed about this story. First was the characters. The secondary characters, Italian family members and their employees were stereotypes, but very well written. I had to laugh at that. Victoria is a good, strong character and her role in the story was very interesting and well written. The other people from the village were also entertaining. They were eccentric, naive and nosy. There were several suspects, some red herrings and a few twists along the way that kept me guessing. The mystery itself was rather complex, and if you didn't pay attention, you would have to go back and double check on which characters were which, and who had what motive. There are two victims in this book, increasing the suspense factor, but you will have to read it to find out who they are. My one complaint is that the ending was not wrapped up as well as I would have liked it to be. I will probably go back and read some of the books in this series that I missed to see if they are all as enjoyable as this one. This is a book that I would recommend to those who enjoy a cozy that is a bit more complex.

It's the first book I read of this series, it's very engaging and well written, but the fictional part prevails over the mystery, it seems more like a romance of a mystery
Victoria gives her home for a wedding reception but a corpse is found on her property, someone wants the groom dead
I liked that the story was told from different points of view and that it was set on an island. The plot is well developed and interesting, the characters are colorful and believable

Cynthia Riggs catches 92 year old poetess Victoria Turnbull in the middle of a destination wedding on her property on Martha's Vineyard. in Widow's Wreath. Victoria is also a consultant to the local police. The marriage between two people who think they are both marrying rich spouses is put on hold by the murder of an unknown in Victoria's basement. Local police versus violent Italian New York families who are seeking revenge on the groom Rocco add to the confusion; to many suspects. Read this fast paced cozy.

I barely made it through this. Although the premise sounded interesting, I just couldn't get into the storyline.

I enjoyed reading Widow's Wreath very much. The plot was interesting and the characters were quite colorful and quirky.
Victoria Trumbull is a good, strong character and her role in the story was very good.
When Victoria's cousin Penny plans her wedding reception on Martha's Vineyard, it sets forth a plethora of events that are full of twists and turns.
Penny is planning to marry Rocco, who is such a nasty character, he set my blood boiling.
When a dead body is discovered, Penny learns the truth about Rocco and his nefarious activities.
The story was well written and I enjoyed getting to know the characters in the story.
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review the book.

I had not read the previous 13 books in the series before picking up Widow's Wreath, so I had no expectations.
There were several things I liked about the book: the characters, especially Victoria Trumbull; the setting - Martha's Vineyard is gorgeous with the right touch of sophistication; and the well built world, which comes from being book 14 in the series.
Unfortunately, there was more to dislike: the story was disjointed and occasionally difficult to follow; there was a lot of redundancy, enough so that I wondered a few times if I was rereading a passage by mistake; and the mystery was not engaging.
Because I have heard good things about previous books in the series, I am willing to give them a try.

Widow’s Wreath is the fourteenth book in the Martha’s Vineyard Mystery series.

I’ve enjoyed the other books in this series, but this one not as much. For me, there were too many suspects introduced early on in the book and it seems to take a while to learn that the wrong person had been killed. It took me a while to get everybody straight and their reasons for wanting the same person dead.

Victoria Trumball has agreed to host her 25-year-old distant cousin’s, Penny, wedding to Rocco Bufano. An electrician, Mark Johnson comes to Victoria’s home to upgrade the wiring that will be needed to support the need of additional electricity for the reception. Johnson soon asks Victoria what he should do with the scarecrow hanging in the basement. He soon learns that it is no scarecrow but in fact the body of a man that has been strangled.

Victoria wonders whether this was a good idea when she also learns that Penny has gone deeply into debt to fund the wedding and reception. The wedding, as it turns out, is a matter of convenience. Both of them think the other is rich and their answer to pay off their debts. The police are having difficulty identifying the body, but they feel that Rocco is not being completely honest when asked to identify the body. It seems that just about all of the guests and even the wedding party end up coming under suspicion. It will become clear that Rocco is the intended victim and the police will need to find the killer before someone else is murdered.

This is a well developed and interesting story with many interesting and believable characters. I would like to see future books to more like the earlier books.

I will be watching for future books in this entertaining series.

I have read most of the previous books in this series, enough to feel that this one isn't up to the standards of the rest. The setting of Martha's Vineyard is a big draw and entering the world of Penny has always been fun. As a cozy, I expect the usual suspects, red herrings, twists and turns and a satisfying ending with questions answered. This entry just didn't deliver for me. It left me confused with various voices and under developed characters and a rather tepid mystery.
Penny agrees to host the wedding festivities for her distant cousin but gets way more than she expected. An unidentified body is found hanging in her basement and many of the guests are saying that it should have been the groom. Lots of people wanted to bump him off. Add to that neither the bride nor the groom are being truthful with the other. Each thinks the other is rich but the truth is that they are both up to their eyeballs in debt. Not the way to start a marriage.
After awhile, I found I really didn't have much interest in who killed the guy in the basement, who he was and who hated the groom enough to land at the head of the list. I wanted more of the Penny I had enjoyed in earlier mysteries. Even though this was a little disappointing, I'm sure that, when the next one is published, I will give it a try. I like spending time with Penny and staying awhile on Martha's Vineyard.
My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is the 14th in series and can be read as a stand alone. I am new to this series . I like the departure from a usual cozy in that this is darker , with a more moody atmosphere. It kept my thinking cap on as I was unable to determine the suspect with all the engaging twist and turns. The sleuth was very well done. I liked the location of Martha's Vineyard and enjoyed the supporting charcters who all added depth to the story. . All in all a enjoyable read and I look forward to reading further books in the series. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC which does not influence my review.

I was granted an ARC from Net Galley for Cynthia Riggs book Widow's Wreath. This was actually another mystery I chose by the cover first. I love lighthouses and love mysteries where they are set near a lighthouse or in a lighthouse so this was right up my alley. This was a mystery I was not prepared for. It was not cut and dry nor was it easy to figure out. I was so impressed with how complex it was. The story was impossible to put down and compelling. Not overly cozy but complex in a goodway and makes for an excellent read.
This book is out now from Crooked Lane Books.

Victoria Trumbull reluctantly agrees to allow her distant cousin Penny Arbuthnot to use her property for her upcoming wedding reception but nothing goes as planned. A male body is found hanging in Victoria's cellar and no one claims to know the victim. Penny's narcissistic fiance Rocco Bufano has been disowned by his billionaire father. Rocco is badly in debt and thinks he has found a rich Martha's Vineyard bride to save him but Penny has no money either, so the wedding is abruptly canceled. Meanwhile, several wedding guests have arrived on the island and each has a desire and a planned method to kill Rocco. They include professional hit men, a jilted fiancee and an autistic savant with a profound knowledge of weaponry.

The reader had to suspend disbelief in this set of coincidences and the ending was not very satisfying. This was a disappointing book and was unlike the previous books in the Martha Vineyard mystery series where the elderly Victoria effectively used her sleuthing skills and unofficial deputy status to help find the killer.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

DNF at 32%.

I tried but am not going to finish this. It's like a series of vignettes that are only connected because of Victoria and the dead body. I'm moving on.

So in full disclosure I have never heard or read anything from Cynthia Riggs and I find out at the end of the book that Widow’s Wreath is a small part of a larger Martha’s Vineyard Mystery series. I guess it should be classified as a cozy mystery because there’s none of the usual clues, red herrings, suspects and at the end no unveiling of the murderer. It was very interesting to read about Martha’s Vineyard since I have never been there and I assume that the writer is very familiar with the island. All this being said this is not my cup of tea - there is just not enough action for me. On the other hand it is a very easy read in a couple of hours so if you just want to relax this might be just for you. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for my unbiased review. 3 stars.

A murder mystery where the groom is so horrid everyone wants to kill him. This is a fun read about two greedy and very poor people thinking the other is rich and determining to marry one another. Penny is penniless (I could not resist writing that) and her soon to be betrothed, Rocco, has been cut off by his father. They just don’t quite know it yet. The joke is on both of them but only one is the nasty, selfish, self-centered person almost everyone on the island wants to do away with. It seems the wedding is planned and everyone begins to show up at the house of Penny’s elderly, sweet, very wise cousin, Victoria Trumbull.

There were a lot of characters in this story and sometimes that can confuse the storyline or the reader for that matter. This didn’t seem to be the case with Rigg’s story. Each character had a very distinct personality making it easy to keep track of who was who so to speak. The same is true of the description of Victoria Trumbull’s beautiful home. I wanted to visit it. As I said, I enjoyed this story and it kept me interested enough to keep the pages turning fairly fast.

This is book 14 of a series titled "Martha’s Vinyard Mysteries". They seem to all have good reviews so should be worth the time checking out.

**This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

This is the 14 th book in this series and it left me wanting more of a mystery. I love the characters and setting. Martha Vineyard is a magical setting for a murder and wedding. I look forward to future books. I recommend this to all the fans of the series and would recommend reading the first books in the series and not start with this book.

Disappointed, But Hopeful
Nonagenarian poet, Victorian Trumbull has agreed to allow a distance cousin to hold her wedding reception at her Martha’s Vineyard home. However things aren’t quite what they seem. First a dead body turns up in Victoria’s basement then an interesting mix of wedding guests end up on the island.

Before I dos are exchanged, the groom discovers the bride isn’t wealthy, as he had thought. But then again, he’s not wealthy as the the bride though either. Add into the mix the groom’s Mafia connected family and vendettas galore and you’ve got the making for this story.

While this is the 14th book in the Martha’s Vineyard Series, this is the first one I have read and it is fine as a stand alone book, I was sorely disappointed with the outcoe. I have seen a few say that it’s a departure from the normal series, so I will hold out hope and give one of the previous books a read at some point down the road. surely, if this is number 14 in the series, something good must be going on there.

This was my first Martha's Vineyard Mystery and it was bleak. The characters were generally unlikeable and the mystery was disturbing. That Victoria Trumball and the local police could so easily dismiss heinous crimes was off-putting. It was mostly ugly and discouraging. I honestly don't know if I will try to go back and read more in the series to find anything redeeming. I'm sorry.