Customer Reviews

The Alpine Quilt: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries)

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Genevieve Bayard returns to Alpine to have a reunion with the women of the Burl Creek Thimble Club, a quilters group to which she used to belong. The ladies seem to be having a good time until Gen dies at a dinner party with her friends. As always, newspaper editor Emma Lord decides to conduct her own investigation, in spite of being discoraged by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Sheriff Milo Dodge. Her investigation reveals some long-hidden secrets, including a possible affair, and the stealing of quilt patterns. All of the evidence points to Gen's best friends and to Emma's friend, Vida. Emma redoubles her efforts to exonerate Vida and along the way she discovers some things she wish had stayed hidden. Mary Daheim can always be counted on to write a good mystery with interesting characters, a dash of romance and some laughs along the way.

Genevieve Bayard is back in town for a visit with her son, local photo shop owner Buddy. It's been decades since she had quit the local Burl Hill Thimble Club and moved to Spokane, but her old friends threw a party to welcome her back.

But the next day Genevieve drops dead while having dinner with her oldest and closest friend, Annie Jeanne Dupre, local spinster and housekeeper at the rectory.

What at first looks like a heart attack turns into murder when it's found that insulin pills had been put into the dessert.

Who would want to kill Gen? Or maybe they wanted to kill Annie Jeanne, who was in the hospital, fortunate that she only ate one piece of cheesecake while Gen had scarfed down three pieces.

Emma Lord, owner of the local newspaper, The Alpine Advocate decides she has to investigate, after all, she didn't want any suspicion to come over the church, where her brother, Father Ben is currently the fill-in priest.

But investigation proves difficult when her usual partner in crime, House & Home editor, Vida Runkel refuses to have anything to do with the case. She hated Genevieve and couldn't care less that she was dead.

Suddenly suspicion seems to fall on too many people close to Emma and she wonders if the crime was the result of recent events or something that occurred a long time ago.

Highlights:

Emma is a very likable character. I love the interplay between her and her brother Ben.

The supporting characters are, as usual, wonderful. Scott, Ginny & Leo from the paper, Spencer Fleetwood, the radio station owner and Emma's son - Adam - a priest located somewhere near the North Pole and of course, Ed Bronsky. Although none of them have major storylines, they appear throughout the book, giving you a real feel of small town life, where you meet everyone, here, there and everywhere.

Milo Dodge - town sheriff. The perfect man for Emma although she hasn't realized it for a decade.

Lowlight:

Tom Cavanaugh - Long time Lover, Almost husband, who had been murdered before her eye's. (Emma's description of Tom)

Tom Cavanaugh - Two-timing creep who dumped a pregnant Emma to go back to his pregnant wife, ignored her & their son for 20 years, showed up and had many 1 night or 1 week stands with her, promised several times to marry her, dumped her several more times, turned out to be criminal who got killed by his own cohorts. (My description of Tom) But everyone thinks he was a great guy?

I loved the mystery. Never figured it out.

The ending was a real surprise and incorporated a lot of things you had learned from previous books. That is what I love about these books, that there is a consistency in the storyline, you hear about old characters and old plotlines, which makes everything seem so much more real.

This is a series that is best to start from the beginning and read through. Although, each book does work as a stand alone.

If you like these books, check out her other series - The Bed & Breakfast series featuring Judith & Joe Flynn, which I think is the best series in the mystery genre.

I have really enjoyed the books in this series. Mrs. Daheim does a wonderful job of painting a picture of the village of Alpine and its inhabitants. I really like the way the characters develop from book to book (here Vida). I have only one complaint. Emma is so blind to the qualities of the men in her life. Please, Mrs. Daheim, let her grow up and realize that Milo is the man for her. You could develop an interesting story line of the life of Emma and Milo as a married couple both working to solve crime in Alpine.

Don't miss this one....and don't loan it out. You'll want to hang on to it for rereading.

I finished The Alpine Quilt last night. I'd hoarded it like fine Belgian chocolates in my nightstand as reward waiting for me to complete plowing through several big commitments.

If you don't already have a copy BUY it. I you haven't gotten around to reading it, READ it! I've read all of the Alpines as well as all of Daheim's B&B series and this is one of the very best if not the best. I'm not revealing many details because you'll want the story to unfold as you read it.

A former resident of Alpine returns to town setting in motion a murder, another death, and revelations of old heartbreak and secrets which have haunted several people for many years.

I am again in awe of Mary Daheim's talent. She somehow always make me really FEEL even the subtlest emotions...as well as the complex ones about the guilty party at the end of the book. She accomplishes so much without hitting her readers over the head....it always amazes me.

The Alpine Quilt brought me very close to tears several times. My heart ached for Vida when all of the pieces fell together. The shocking revelations totally work...it doesn't feel in the least like a rewrite of history. It isn't a rewrite because we simply had no idea.

I will add this thought...if you haven't read some of the other Alpine series books you won't get the full effect. Mary Daheim is the queen of character and relationship development and this book is verrry emotionally stirring because of secrets revealed about Vida, a much loved regular character who is deeply involved in the story. Please don't misunderstand. The book stands alone perfectly well. You'll just feel the impact more strongly if you are familiar with the characters and history. Readers of other cozy series with continuing characters will understand what I mean. It's characteristic of the genre.

On the lighter side, Emma has a new beau and so far he's a winner! It feels VERY right. I know the future will hold lots of bumps in the road but I hope Emma hangs in there. He's a keeper.

Emma's brother Ben is in town substituting for the local parish priest and readers are treated to seeing more of a very warm and very natural sibling relationship. I hope he sticks around for a while.

Don't wait for the paperback. Go ahead and treat yourself to a fabulous read!

I love the Emma Lord series and look forward to the next encounter every year. THE ALPINE QUILT is filled with all the qualities a mystery requires: mystery, suspense, romance, comedy. Ms. Daheim, keep them coming. They're wonderful books. I am anticipating another great read on MArch 28 with THE ALPINE RECLUSE. This is exciting news!

A festive reunion with former Alpine resident Genevieve Bayard turns to tragedy when Gen suddenly dies while having dinner at the Alpine rectory with her girlhood best friend, Annie Jeanne Dupre, housekeeper at the rectory. Gen Bayard, an accomplished quilter, had moved away from Alpine some thirty years earlier under shady circumstances. When an autopsy reveals that Gen was poisoned by an insulin overdose, local newspaper editor Emma Lord jumps into the murder investigation. In addition to Gen's sudden death, there has been a rash of burglaries in the normally quiet mountain town of Alpine, and Emma wonders if the crimes are related.

The mystery in this story was really well-plotted, and kept me guessing until the end. I really enjoyed getting to know the cast of Alpine's residents better. In this episode, Emma's brother Ben, who is a Catholic priest, has accepted a temporary assignment in Alpine while Father Kelley is on a sabbatical. The interaction between Emma and Ben had some very funny moments. We also learn a lot about Emma' House & Home Editor Vida Runkle's past. The continuity of the characters in the Alpine stories really adds to the small town atmosphere.

"The Alpine Quilt" is a strong addition to Mary Daheim's series of mysteries set in Alpine, Washington. The character development and mystery plot were much stronger than the last several books in this series. If you haven't read the other books in this series, I recommend you start with the "Alpine Advocate". The whole Alpine series is enjoyable reading.

While this series remains much better than the Judith Flynn B&B series, it had started getting a little stale lately. However, this installment was certainly a turnaround.

Fast-paced, it brings back things from the past that the reader never saw coming in earlier books. And the best part was that the ever-annoying Vida was much more toned down -- I've long been unable to stand her, but when she spoke of leaving town, I was actually thinking I might miss her.

Hopefully this series is back on track to stay!

Ms. Daheim is certainly a wonderful story teller. This is the first of this series I have read and I was afraid that I would be stepping into the middle of a tale already partially told, as so often happens in "series" books. This work, while certainly related to others, and was obviously a sequel to other works, was easy to get into and the story line no worse the wear. It stood on its own. This is a low keyed mystery, or I should say, several mysteries, which were a pleasure to read. The story moved well and you certainly came to know and appreciate the key characters. The town of Alpine took on a life and personality of its own. There were plenty of twists and turns and it was not a work that I could figure out after the first two chapters. All in all, it was a pleasant read and I do highly recommend it.

Though the book is a fun continuation of the Emma Lord series, the cause of death is not only not plausible, it is "malpractice" to present it as the author did. Glipizide is NOT insulin-though the author repeatedly uses the names interchangeably. Glipizide will NOT cause instant death when ingested at a meal. That glaring error put a damper on my enjoyment of the rest of the story.

Ms. Daheim needs to have a medical fact-checker proofread her drafts....

The Alpine Quilt is one of the most cohesive of the Emma Lord mysteries. The story line is pieced together exactly like a quilt. I have read every one of this series, and so far, in this book, the interweaving of the characters and the plot is excellent. Be on the look out for some surprises.