Philip Craig; novels offered mystery and a sense of place

Like J. W. Jackson, the fictional private eye of his Martha's Vineyard mystery books, Philip R. Craig became an avid fisherman and a great cook after moving to the Vineyard.

Jackson was a retired Boston police officer who went to the Vineyard for the fishing and met the woman of his dreams, the beautiful "fisherperson," Zee Madieras. Mr. Craig went there after he had already found the woman of his dreams, the beautiful Shirley Jane Prada, also a fisherperson, and then got hooked on surf-casting, bluefish, in particular.

Mr. Craig, of Edgartown, a former teacher of English literature and creative writing, died May 8 of colon cancer at Martha's Vineyard Hospital. He was 74.

His 18th J.W. Jackson mystery, "The Vineyard Stalker" has just been released.

Though Shirley Craig said that J.W. and Zee are fictitious characters, friends and fans of Mr. Craig's books love to think that the Craigs are the inspiration for the sleuth and his wife.

After Mr. Craig and Shirley married in 1957, they began spending summers on the Vineyard while living winters in Hamilton and teaching. In the 1990s, they renovated a shack at an old hunting camp outside Edgartown, and became year-round residents in 1999 after he retired after 34 years teaching at Wheelock College.

The couple would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in December.

"They were the love affair of the century," said Marjorie Bakken, who was president of Wheelock when Mr. Craig taught there.

The road to publication was not smooth. In a backgrounder he wrote for his publishers, he said that while teaching he wrote constantly and "submitted novels that nobody wanted to publish."

But he was known as an outstanding teacher, Bakken said. "Phil was a special kind of person," she said. "He respected his students as fellow learners."

He attended Boston University, where he met his wife in a fencing class. In 1955, he was chosen the best collegiate fencer in the country at the Collegiate Foils Tournament in New York City, according to a story in the Boston Sunday Post. His fencing knowledge shows up in his 2003 novel, "A Vineyard Killing."

Mr. Craig wrote his first book, "Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn," about a voyage to Beowulf's tomb, "during lunch breaks in the back room of Al's Package Store in Edgartown," he once wrote. It was published in 1969 when he was 35.

His second book, "A Beautiful Place to Die," the first of the Vineyard mysteries, was published 20 years later.

Once the mysteries took off, Mr. Craig came out with a new one around Memorial Day each year. In August 1998, the Globe reported that bags of books sent to President Clinton by two island bookstores included Mr. Craig's novel, "A Shoot on Martha's Vineyard."

"The amazing thing about Phil," said Susan Mercier, manager of Edgartown Books, "was that he never really got why people loved him so. He had no ego, no agenda. To have people from Kansas come in and rave about his books surprised him every time."

Readers are grieving his death, booksellers said.

"Phil had a long, loyal fan base," said Kate Mattens, owner of Kate's Mystery Books in Cambridge. "He was a wonderful presence. He would come to signings in a fisherman's vest, plaid shirt, khakis, and a leather-brimmed hat. He always had great hugs."

Mystery writer and fishing buddy William G. Tapply of Hancock, N.H., said: "Phil just filled up a room. He wasn't aggressive or overly social. People just gravitated to him."

Tapply collaborated with Mr. Craig on three books, which are not in the Vineyard series.

"Writers are generally afraid of collaborating with a friend and arguing about a story, but Phil and I felt our friendship was more important," he said.

Their third collaboration, "Third Strike," with alternate chapters devoted to Jackson and to Tapply's protagonist, Brady Coyne, a Boston lawyer, is due out in November.

Mr. Craig's books are popular not only for their whodunit plots, but for their sense of place. In his evocative descriptions, summer visitors can relive vacation days over long winters.

An excerpt from "A Case of Vineyard Poison" captures a summer day on the island.

It all started with a bluefish blitz at Metcalf's on South Beach. It was early summer and the bluefish were everywhere. After hitting the yard sales, Zee and I had taken a lunch out to Pocha Pond, on a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning. I had unfolded the old bedspread I use for a beach blanket, and while Zee lay on it in the lee of the tall rushes that grow there and read, I waded out for some chowder quahogs.

Like Mr. Craig, the laid-back Jackson has a fondness for good food, and every book includes recipes. The Craigs recently collaborated on a book of J.W.'s recipes titled "Delish!"

"I'm famous for my smoked bluefish," J.W. says in the cookbook. "If you don't like it, we can still be friends, but our relationship will be under considerable strain."

The recipes lighten the murder and mayhem, although darkness does not dominate in his books.

"Phil wrote what you would call cozies, meaning you can curl up in front of the fire with a cat in your lap and not be scared," said West Tisbury mystery writer, Cynthia Riggs.

Mr. Craig was born in Santa Monica, Calif., to Platt and Grace (Kiefer) Craig. He was still a toddler when they moved to Colorado, where his father ran a 400-acre ranch outside Durango and his mother taught in a rural school.

Books abounded in their house, and the children were encouraged to read, said his sister, Martha Walker of Durango. "Philip began writing at an early age."

Mr. Craig had plenty of adventures to write about, drifting down rivers on homemade rafts and going on cattle drives with his father and siblings.

He would spend Saturdays at the movies watching swashbucklers with actors like Errol Flynn. "I think that's why he took up fencing," said his brother, Howard of Durango.

Jack Gilgun of St. Joseph, Mo., formerly of Malden and a BU classmate, said he spotted Mr. Craig's writing talent when editing the BU magazine, Patterns.

Gilgun submitted a short story Mr. Craig had written about a father taking a son on his first deer hunt as a recommendation for acceptance to the prestigious University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. After graduating from BU in 1957, Mr. Craig earned his master of fine arts degree in creative writing there in 1962.

Back in New England, he taught English and journalism at Endicott Junior College in Beverly from 1962 to 1965, before moving on to Wheelock.

On the Vineyard, he threw himself into island life. He learned to sail by teaching youngsters, his wife said, and lent his fine tenor voice to the Island Community Chorus, which will dedicate its June 30 concert to him.

Mr. Craig was a generous man. At the annual auction to support Vineyard community services hosted by the late Art Buchwald, he always donated dinner and drinks at his home and offered to use the winners' names in his next book.

Larry L. Zimmerman of Hebron, Conn., a BU classmate who once suggested a plot, said Mr. Craig dedicated the book to him. Riggs said that when she shared a book-signing venue with Mr. Craig, he told fans, "If you like my books, you'll like hers, as well."

This summer, he was scheduled to appear at the author series at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Edgartown.

The events will now be a memorial to him, said Ann Nelson, its former owner.

"Phil once told me that when he sat down to write, he never knew how the story would unwind," she said. "He was a true storyteller."

In addition to his wife, sister, and brother, Mr. Craig leaves a son, Jaime of Edgartown; a daughter, Kim Lynch of Durango; another brother, Kenneth of Durango; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on the Vineyard later in the summer.