The Alpine Menace: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Mary Daheim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000 | Series: Emma Lord Mysteries

For once, Emma Lord, editor-publisher of The Alpine Advocate, isn't thrilled by having an inside track. The Seattle strangling murder of Alpine native Carol Stokes is generating headlines, but the accused killer is Emma's long-lost cousin Ronnie, who swears he was out drinking when his girlfriend was strangled. But he can't prove it, and neighbors claim they heard the couple fighting moments before the murder. Now Emma and supersnoop Vida, the Advocate's house-and-home editor, must find another suspect. Someone who hated Carol enough to write a tragic ending to her life story. Someone who is preparing to edit Emma and Vida right out of existence. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Daheim's readers well know, Emma Lord (appearing in her 13th mystery) is a full-time journalist and part-time sleuth in the tiny Washington lumber town of Alpine. Persuaded by VidaAher gray-haired yet spunky house-and-home editor at The Alpine Advocate, who strongly proclaims the value of family tiesAEmma goes to Seattle to help a long-lost cousin who is accused of murdering Carol Stokes, his girlfriend and a former Alpine resident. Emma hasn't seen cousin Ronnie since he was a kid, 25 years ago, and from what she can tell he's an aimless loser who remembers little about the night of the murder except that he was out drinking. Thus, Emma and Vida shoulder the burden of clearing him and endure a busy week interviewing neighbors, a tangle of ex-girlfriends and boyfriends and both real and adoptive parents. Emma's rather stiff performance is balanced by the colorful and resourceful Vida, who uses her age to great advantage in eliciting information. Indeed, it is Vida who carries the plot and skillfully maintains the reader's interest in the murder investigation (particularly since Ronnie seems indifferent about his innocence). Daheim's fans will be thrilled to greet Emma and Vida once again, but new readers may be disappointed that she limits the local color of Seattle to a few street names and does little more than report background information (on her regular characters) that could otherwise serve as a warm welcome to her fictional world. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

For once, Emma Lord, editor-publisher of The Alpine Advocate, isn't thrilled by having an inside track. The Seattle strangling murder of Alpine native Carol Stokes is generating headlines, but the accused killer is Emma's long-lost cousin Ronnie, who swears he was out drinking when his girlfriend was strangled. But he can't prove it, and neighbors claim they heard the couple fighting moments before the murder. Now Emma and supersnoop Vida, the Advocate's house-and-home editor, must find another suspect. Someone who hated Carol enough to write a tragic ending to her life story. Someone who is preparing to edit Emma and Vida right out of existence. . . .

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 293 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345421248
• ISBN-13: 978-0345421241
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #689,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good mystery, October 5, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alpine Menace: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Emma Lord has owned and operated Washington State's Alpine-Advocate for over a decade. Nearing fifty, Emma has covered more stories, solved several homicides, and has scooped her peers more often than she would like to remember.

Currently, she has the inside track to a Seattle murder that leaves her quite uneasy since the suspect is her dimwitted cousin Ronnie, a person she has not seen in about three decades. Ronnie is accused of killing his live-in girl friend. When Emma, at the instigation or encouragement, depending on the perspective of House and Home editor Vida Runkel, visits Ronnie at jail, she concludes he is too laid back to kill anyone. Emma and Vida begin their own style of investigating especially because the police are looking at Ronnie only in spite of the suspect's airtight alibi. However, finding the guilty party proves difficult and dangerous as the culprit prefers Ronnie receive credit for the deed.

THE ALPINE MENACE is a very intricate mystery so that it is nearly impossible to determine the identity of the killer. The victim is not likable, as she was the poster girl for "trailer trash" with many people wishing her dead. Thus, the audience performs a real mental workout trying to identify the perpetrator. Mary Daheim is dependable when it comes to a well-written mystery, but this novel is one of her best tales.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greataddition to this series, October 3, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alpine Menace: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Emma Lord has owned and operated Washington State's Alpine-Advocate for over a decade. Nearing fifty, Emma has covered more stories, solved several homicides, and has scooped her peers more often than she would like to remember.

Currently, she has the inside track to a Seattle murder that leaves her quite uneasy since the suspect is her dimwitted cousin Ronnie, a person she has not seen in about three decades. Ronnie is accused of killing his live-in girl friend. When Emma, at the instigation or encouragement, depending on the perspective of House and Home editor Vida Runkel, visits Ronnie at jail, she concludes he is too laid back to kill anyone. Emma and Vida begin their own style of investigating especially because the police are looking at Ronnie only in spite of the suspect's airtight alibi. However, finding the guilty party proves difficult and dangerous as the culprit prefers Ronnie receive credit for the deed.

THE ALPINE MENACE is a very intricate mystery so that it is nearly impossible to determine the identity of the killer. The victim is not likable, as she was the poster girl for "trailer trash" with many people wishing her dead. Thus, the audience performs a real mental workout trying to identify the perpetrator. Mary Daheim is dependable when it comes to a well-written mystery, but this novel is one of her best tales.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emma and Vida in Seattle, February 15, 2002

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alpine Menace: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Emma Lord, owner and editor of the Alpine Advocate, receives a phone call from her long-lost cousin Ronnie. It seems that he has been wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his girlfriend and he has no one else to turn to. Emma is uncertain as to what to do, but her sidekick Vida convinces her that she must help Ronnie, since he is a family member. Emma decides to go to Seattle to help Ronnie and Vida invites herself along. When they arrive they discover that the life of the dead girl, Carol, was quite a tangled web. Emma and Vida begin their own investigation, since they find the police in Seattle to be just as inept as they are in Alpine. There are a number of people connected to Carol who seem to be good suspects but the intrepid investigators from Alpine keep coming up empty-handed. Nothing seems to make sense in this case, especially when another murder takes place. Emma stumbles upon one of the murderers and then realizes who the other one is. This is another good entry in this series.