Martha’s Vineyard is a destination for summer magic: festivals and fairs; music, shops, and restaurants; sailing days and clambake nights. And, of course, sunbathing on beaches, beaches, beaches—it’s an island, after all. But when my wonderful editor, Wendy McCurdy, suggested this new Vineyard series, we agreed I should go beyond the summer fun and delve into the year-round experience of true islanders.

From natives to wash-ashores, full-time residents are eclectic and diverse, a blend of cultures and customs, a cacophony of talents and ideas. Together they are the foundation of the island’s vibrant spirit of community. And, when mingling with summer residents and visitors, interesting things can happen.

My main character, Annie Sutton, a bestselling mystery novelist, moved from Boston to the Vineyard to put her past behind her. But whoever penned the saying “Wherever you go, there you are” must have had Annie in mind. Since the series debut, A Vineyard Christmas, Annie has been faced with truths about herself and the ongoing challenges that they still pose in her wonderful but very real world.

I hope you’re enjoying this series. Book number four, A Vineyard Crossing, will be published soon. It promises more choppy waters ahead—plus an unexpected bombshell or two. I’m rooting for Annie to navigate it all. But who knows?

—Jean Stone

Photo courtesy of Marcia Fenn

Jean Stone is the author of seventeen novels about contemporary women that have been published by Random House and HarperCollins. Her book Good Little Wives (written under her pen name, Abby Drake) has been optioned for a Lifetime TV movie. From Germany to Japan, over a dozen countries around the world have purchased the subrights to her novels and translated them. Jean has taught at a number of writers’ conferences and has been a guest lecturer at many colleges and conferences. A native of New England, she lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, for several years; she now resides on Martha’s Vineyard. Visit her website: www.jeanstone.com or her blog www.jeanstonemv.com.