Alpine Hero (Emma Lord Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Mary Daheim (Author)

Book Description

Series: Emma Lord Mysteries | Publication Date: November 27, 1996

THE ALPINE ADVOCATE SCOOPS A MURDER



Emma Lord, the Advocate's editor, finds the body in the facial room of Stella's Styling Salon *anonymous under a mud pack, throat slashed.



The victim turns out to be the sister-in-law of Sheriff Dodge's girlfriend, who had initially made the appointment for herself. Perhaps she was the killer's intended target. After all, no one in Alpine really knew the dead woman personally. Then rumors begin to fly, shady strangers turn up in town, and a young woman disappears into thin air. What looks like the story of the year is fast developing, and Emma means to have it *or die trying . . .

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Mary Daheim and I go back a long way -- well, seventeen or eighteen years. That's a long time for a publishing association. Years before I became Mary's editor on the Emma Lord/Alpine series for Ballantine, I was an editorial assistant at another trade house -- and that's where we met, long distance. She lives in Seattle; I live in New York; even eighteen year ago, the phone lines stretched in both directions. At the time Mary was writing successful historical romances for my then-boss, a senior editor. One day Mary and I revealed our unbridled passion for reading crime fiction. Little did I dream then that, soon after I arrived at Ballantine, Mary would become a crime writer herself. Of course, now she's a nationally renowned one . . . and I especially treasure her novels about Emma Lord, the editor-publisher of a small-town weekly newspaper in fictional (but based on fact) Alpine, Washington. The paper is called The Alpine Advocate, which is also the title of the first novel in the series. For any readers who haven't visited Alpine, I heartily recommend starting with Book One -- and then continuing forward (in alphabetical order) to THE ALPINE BETRAYAL, THE ALPINE CHRISTMAS, THE ALPINE DECOY, THE ALPINE ESCAPE, THE ALPINE FURY, THE ALPINE GAMBLE, THE ALPINE HERO, THE ALPINE ICON, THE ALPINE JOURNEY, and (coming soon) THE ALPINE KINDRED.

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher

From the Inside Flap

THE ALPINE ADVOCATE SCOOPS A MURDER



Emma Lord, the Advocate's editor, finds the body in the facial room of Stella's Styling Salon *anonymous under a mud pack, throat slashed.



The victim turns out to be the sister-in-law of Sheriff Dodge's girlfriend, who had initially made the appointment for herself. Perhaps she was the killer's intended target. After all, no one in Alpine really knew the dead woman personally. Then rumors begin to fly, shady strangers turn up in town, and a young woman disappears into thin air. What looks like the story of the year is fast developing, and Emma means to have it *or die trying . . .

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (November 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345396421
• ISBN-13: 978-0345396426
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder With That Facial?, May 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Alpine Hero (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Emma Lord, owner and editor of the Alpine Advocate was just going to Stell's Styling Salon to get her hair cut. The last thing she expected was to open the wrong door in the Salon and discover a woman laying on a table with her throat cut.

This happens in the first pages of the book.

Emma is even more stunned when shop assistant Laurie Marshall tells her the person on the table who was supposed to be getting her facial was Ms. Whitman.

Honoria Whitman, who was in a wheelchair after being thrown down the stairs by her abusive husband who was then shot dead by her brother, had been the Sheriff, Milo Dodge's on again / off again girlfriend for almost five years.

It was a relief when Emma found out it wasn't Honoria, but Kay Whitman, her sister-in-law who was visiting with her husband Trevor, who had just been released from prison for the killing of Honoria's husband and their mother.

But who would want to kill someone who is perfect stranger in Alpine. And was the fact that she had taken Honoria's appointment at the last minute mean that it was actually Honoria who was targeted?

Emma's finds a lot of suspects. Stella Magruder, owner of the shop seems more upset over what people will say than the fact that someone was murdered in her salon.

Becca Wolfe, who was doing the facial and who later mysteriously disappears.

Laurie Marshall, shop assistant who is a very dim bulb and her mother Jane are both acting suspicious as if they're trying to hide something.

And why is a billionaire, Toby Popp building a new multi-million dollar house near Alpine?

This is the best book in the series so far. It takes all the history you have already learned and the people you have come to care for and throws it all into the wind. Nothing is as it seems.

Highlights:

Emma and Milo having dinner at her house, bumping heads as they lean over to pick something up and end up rolling around on the floor for a few moments, before his cell phone rings and he becomes Super Sheriff again.

Ginny Burmeister, the office manager is on her honeymoon in Hawaii with Rick Erlandson's, so Emma is trying to do her job as well as her own.

Carla as usual cannot be trusted with the simplest task which is why the picture she took of the bereaved family has a caption naming Honoria brother Trevor as Walt Whitman.

Leo, the ad manager has turned into a good friend for Emma and Ed Bronsky wants her to ghost write his biography.

I can't write about the best thing that happens in this book. Except that I'm very happy with a turn of events that has been dogging this storyline.

This book had some very funny moments and the ending totally surprised me. I never saw any of it coming.

Can't wait to start the next book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, December 27, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Alpine Hero (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoy Mary Daheim's Alpine series. The characters are like real people. Sitting down with Emma, Vida and Milo is like sitting down with old friends for a guaranteed good time. Not only is there a good mystery, but the people are more than just words and descriptions. I look forward to each one of her Alpine books. Each one keeps getting better, and finally Milo and Emma are progressing

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good characters;draggy plot, March 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Alpine Hero (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed the characters and setting in this book. I like the main character and would be willing to try earlier books in the series before the author started padding the book to make it 300 pages instead of 200. Three hundred is simply too long. Many scenes repeated themselves without further revealing character or advancing the plot. I feel it's the publishers who want the books to be longer so that they can charge more for them. Let's tighten up these mysteries and cut to the chase.