Annie Sutton features in the fourth book in this series of “Vineyard” women’s fiction stories. The tale A VINEYARD CROSSING served as my introduction, but I think this likeable story will mean more to those who have read earlier books.
 
Annie has bravely taken on an elderly inn with character on the seafront. She has been restoring it to its former glories and is renting rooms with the aid of staff and her brother Kevin – only Kevin, part-owner of the business, has scooted off to Hawaii to be with his new lady. Annie is recently engaged to police sergeant John Lyon, who has two daughters. He must spend some time with his ex-wife, on account of the girls. This makes for some tricky moments as not everyone is happy with his new relationship. If I had read about these people previously, I could have come to care about them. As it was, the men were largely absent due to travel or jobs, so I didn’t form much impression of them until they returned at stress moments.
 
One of the summer guests is Mary Beth Mullen, a tourist. Another guest is a noted Boston journalist, Simon Anderson, who just expected two rooms to be provided in August at Chappaquiddick on short notice. Hoping for positive publicity, Annie does the one thing she swore she wouldn’t and lets her small cottage. Juggling her original career as a mystery writer and new one as inn owner has many drawbacks during the busy summer season.
 
Your enjoyment of A VINEYARD CROSSING may be high if you are in the mood for a drama with a slow build of tension. My reaction is that the entire plot hinged upon people hiding identities and keeping secrets, when, there didn’t seem a real reason for anyone to do either. If people shook hands and stated their realities, everyone could have chatted over iced tea and the story would have been half the pages. The convoluted lengths they go to makes this story seem padded to me and I could understand how some characters feel angry about the deceptions. The remaining folks are the cheerful islanders, those who see visitors come and go each year, content if they make a quiet living to keep their families through winter. I also felt that Annie could not possibly have thought she would get peace and quiet to write books and create publicity during summer while managing a tourist inn. Well, she knows better now!
 
Jean Stone is showing her main characters progress in life and presenting them with personal challenges. Anyone who has followed the series can find out in A VINEYARD CROSSING how Annie learns to grow and adapt to her new career. This story has a busy background and the Martha’s Vineyard setting feels like another character. I would certainly visit again to see how Annie makes progress.

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