Martha's Vineyard Books in Order

The Martha’s Vineyard books form a trilogy about the Blaine family and their orbit, set almost entirely on the island. Rather than courtroom showdowns, these novels focus on inheritance—in money, in class, and in emotional damage—against the backdrop of a place that can feel both idyllic and suffocating.

Fall From Grace opens with a death. Ben Blaine, a celebrated writer who clawed his way up from a rough Chilmark childhood, is found at the base of a cliff after a nighttime fall. His younger son, Adam, returns from covert work in Afghanistan to attend the funeral and settle the estate. When Ben’s will leaves almost everything to his actress lover, Carla Pacelli, disinheriting Ben’s wife, older son, and brother, Adam begins to suspect that his father’s death may not have been an accident at all.

As Adam investigates, the novel moves between present‑day Martha’s Vineyard and the family’s past. The island’s summer guests and year‑round residents intersect in tense ways: old resentments over privilege, class, and success coexist with genuine affection and shared history. Adam’s work uncovers affairs, rivalries, and betrayals that reshape what he thought he knew about his father and about himself.

Loss of Innocence steps back to the late 1960s, told largely through the eyes of Whitney Dane, a wealthy young woman spending what is supposed to be her last carefree summer on the Vineyard before marriage. She meets a younger Ben Blaine, home from working on Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign and furious at the inequities he sees around him. Their relationship unfolds against the turbulence of 1968—Vietnam, protest, and shifting expectations for women—showing how the Island’s sheltered world collides with national upheaval.

Eden in Winter returns to the aftermath of Ben’s death. The state is investigating whether he fell or was pushed, family members are pointing fingers, and Carla Pacelli is pregnant with his child and suddenly an heir to most of his fortune. Adam, trained in secrecy and misdirection, uses those skills to shield his brother and others from legal danger, even as he becomes closer to Carla. Therapy sessions, legal maneuvering, and stormy Vineyard seasons frame a final reckoning with what Ben did to the people closest to him.

Across the trilogy, Martha’s Vineyard is more than a setting—it’s a small, watchful world that keeps score of who belongs, who visits, and who dares to cross the invisible lines between them.

Taken together, these novels read like a family saga with a mystery skeleton, slowly revealing how a bright, charming patriarch could leave such a trail of hurt behind him. Readers who like their suspense grounded in character, place, and long‑simmering secrets will find plenty to sit with among the dunes, harbors, and back roads of Patterson’s Island.