Book Review: A Deadly Vineyard by Glenn Ickler

By Colin Conway

Spring has only just sprung, but I’m already looking into books for beach reading. In my search for stories to be enjoyed on the sand I found Glenn Ickler’s A Deadly Vineyard. The book takes place on the beautiful beaches of Martha’s Vineyard. And even though I was in an office in Pittsburgh watching the snow outside, reading this book I was transported to a beautiful beach town. What I found on the pages was an interesting combination that could make for decent seaside entertainment.

This is not the first book featuring these characters and the depth of their connections is obvious. Even the cat Sherlock Holmes has a history and a distinct personality. As the mystery unfolds these connections are tested. The mystery that the characters try to solve is complex and gripping. Something is always afoot, and so the story moves rapidly. What is most interesting aside from the murder is the main character and his relationship woes. Mitch is a middle aged cat owner in a long distance relationship. Needless to say he is anything but typical. What interested me most in Mitch was the fact that he was very openly flawed. The author did not try to make Mitch into this super noble figure who always does the right thing, but instead Mitch is tempted in the book, and sometimes he does not resist temptation. I was angry at Mitch when he failed to act in the most honorable way possible, but that just goes to show how attached I became to him.

I make puns sometimes. I think I learned it from my dad. Puns are his bread and butter. I always thought that no one could love puns more than dad. That was until I read A Deadly Vineyard. If puns are my dad’s bread and butter, then for Glenn Ickler they are the very air he breathes. Every ten or fifteen pages a few of the characters would get in verbal sparring matches that made me laugh out loud, chuckle or sometimes roll my eyes. Within the first ten pages we are given this little exchange, “ ‘Look at this—the guy’s name is Wade Waters,’ Dave said. ‘Is that a perfect name for a diver or what?’ ‘Great for a guy hunting for liquid assets,’ I said. ‘He sounds all wet to me,’ Al said. ‘Probably made up that name,’ I said. ‘You know, kind of a pseudo-swim.’ ‘I’m going to bail out of here if you guys don’t dry up,’ Dave said.” That’s just a taste of what comes up over the next 212 pages. The puns come fast and frequent in this story and go a long way to lighten the mood and move the story along.

This book presents an interesting mystery and lets the reader observe a set of complex characters trying to solve it. Glenn Ickler will have you amazed at the sheer number of puns he can cram into the pages of this book. So head to the beach and prepare to be intrigued and amused by A Deadly Vineyard.

My name is Colin Conway and I’m from Abington, Pennsylvania. I’m a senior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Fiction Writing and English Literature. I enjoy writing short stories and not so short novels. I like to run and take Judo to stay in shape. In the future I hope to find a job at a publishing company or literary magazine writing about books and the publishing industry.