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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Murder and arson in Alpine, April 12, 2006
Mary Daheim returns with another installment in the Emma Lord Mystery Series. Emma is the editor of the small-town paper, "The Alpine Advocate", in Washington state. All of the favorite characters are here, although her son Adam and her brother Ben just get a brief mention. Things are unusually hot weather-wise in Alpine, but they get hotter when a fire kills a local man named Tim, who was about to become a father. Further investigation shows that Tim was murdered, and this sets Emma off on another another sleuthing adventure. She discovers that all was not well with Tim and his wife and this casts his wife and his mistress into the role of suspects. Old Nick, a reclusive and mysterious figure is also seen around town, and several people begin to suspect that he is the murderer. Daheim manages to throw in the right amount of red herrings, and the identity of the murderer is quite a surprise at the end. This series is still going strong and it looks as if readers can look forward to 8 more books to round out the alphabetically-titled cozies.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good cozy!, March 30, 2006
This is the 18th installment in the Alpine Advocate series.
In the small town of Alpine, Washington, set in the Cascade Mountains, Emma Lord runs the small weekly paper, the Alpine Advocate. She is helped by her House and Home editor, Vida Runkel who knows everything about everyone in town, and her young reporter, Scott Chamond.
One hot summer night, a house a few blocks from her own home, burns to the ground, and a body is found inside--the young owner, Tim Rafferty. His pregnant wife, Tiffany, was working the evening shift at the local supermarket. It turns out Tim was battered with a baseball bat before the fire was set, and it is a case of murder for Sheriff Milo Dodge.
Self-absorbed, spoiled Tiffany does not seem to be too distraught. An eccentric recluse dubbed "Old Nick" has been seen in the area. Could he have witnessed something?
There is gossip that Tim was having an affair with Toni, a dispatcher for the sheriff's office, who suddenly seems upset and calls in sick a lot. Tim's sister Beth is especially strained, with her work and also helping to care for her mother suffering from Alzheimer's.
Emma befriends both Toni and Beth, trying to figure out why they are both so upset, and learns secrets that might help in the investigation. Emma tries to help her friend Sheriff Dodge, but Vida is pretty much on top of the clues and figures it out before anyone else. Emma does discover the identity of "Old Nick" and forges a special relationship with him.
Armchair Interviews says: This light, cozy mystery set in the beautiful mountains of Washington State during a summer heat wave, with its fun and quirky characters, is perfect for a winter weekend read.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fire In The Night, June 10, 2006
It's the middle of the night, when Emma Lord, owner of the Alpine Advocate, the local newspaper is awaken by fire trucks. The house down the road is on fire. Standing out with the rest of the neighbors, Emma is worried about newlyweds Tim and Tiffany and their unborn child.
At daybreak things look up as Tiffany is found to be safe, unfortunately the same can't be said for poor Tim. It's even more unfortunate when Sheriff Milo Dodge confirms that Tim was murdered before the fire was started.
Suspicion seems to fall on either local recluse Old Nick, who is rarely seen and seems to live somewhere in the forest. Or possibly on Tiffany herself, as there are rumors of marital discord.
As usual, Milo doesn't seem to be investigating fast enough for Emma, so she decides it up to her to start her own investigation and find the killer before an innocent person is accused of the crime.
Highlights:
Emma is always a delightful character and I always enjoy her communications with her son, Adam, who's a priest serving at the North Pole.
The Alpine residents. Leo Walsh & Vida Runkel from the paper. The Town Fool - Ed Bronsky who in this installment decides he might run for the county commission board. Emma's son, Adam and Spence, her rival, who owns the local radio station, thereby being able to scoop the paper on all the breaking stories.
Milo Dodge - The Sheriff, besides Emma, is the best character in the book and the best partner for her.
Lowlights:
Rolf Fisher. Emma's new boyfriend. We had to suffer through book after book with the love of her life, Tom and now it's looks like we're stuck with another jerk. Rolf is also a reporter and should understand Emma's responsibilities as the owner and editor of the Advocate. But when she forgets a date they have due to the murder that just happened and she's trying to cover, instead of being understanding when she says she'll still come down but she'll be late, he tells her he already made other plans that afternoon and not to bother. Anyone who makes other plans before finding out if you're going to show up for the date needs to be dropped instantly.
The mystery: I hated the murder, hated the resolution. I can't say why this entire mystery was so bad due to not wanting to give anything away.
You can't expect every book to be a gem, and I can't wait for the next book.
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