Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I really enjoy this series a lot and think it blows away the Bed & Breakfast series, which has gotten stale and stupid. This installment, however, was not the best in the series.

The resolution to the murder was disappointing. Under the circumstances of it, it also made no sense that the person involved in the confession. would try to keep it a secret. I was definitely let down when I finished reading it.

One thing I love about this series are all the side characters. You don't have to know who they are per se, but we've learned enough about them over the length of the series for them to fit well into the story. Milo, of course, is the best of them, and I'm disappointed the author hasn't gotten him together with Emma.

That being said, however, it's time for the character of Vida to disappear. In the beginning, she was somewhat amusing. Now, she's an annoying buttinsky who really serves no purpose to the stories other than to get on everyone's nerves by butting into their business. The stories got better when Ed Bronsky left the newspaper and was reduced to an occasional "walk-on" role -- it's time to do the same with Vida and her idiotic grandson, Roger.

Really good book. Would have been better if I weren't pestered by idiots and their loud boom noise - really a distraction for reading.
All in all I will read more of her books. Full of suspense and mystery. Easy to keep track of charactors.
Wish all authors would give a list of charactors at the beginning of the book.
Enjoy.

Reading an Alpine mystery is like reading your hometown newspaper. First you catch up on the townsfolk and local gossip, then you delve into the front page headline. On this outing newswoman Emma Lord and Sherrif Milo Dodge are searching for an arsonist who may have started the blaze to cover a murder. A phantom-like hermit roaming the woods around town may hold the key. And, of course, Vida Runkle has her own ideas and quirky ways of executing them. Daheim litters this tale with a lot of delightful red herrings and the conclusion is one of those "um . . well . . maybe" occasions. All in all, such light-hearted fun. This is one of the best "cozy mystery" series in print and I encourage you to start at the beginning. Just about everyone you know is here, especially if you are familiar with small-town life.

Emma Lord, editor of The Alpine Advocate, is awakened by the fire truck sirens. She goes out to investigate and finds that the nearby home of Tim and Tiffany Rafferty, newlyweds, is going up in smoke. Later that day she discovers that Tiffany and her unborn child are safe. Unfortunately Tim wasn't so lucky. He perished in the fire.

Sheriff Milo Dodge suspects it was murder and arson. Emma does some investigating of her own. It appears the Rafferty marriage wasn't that solid. There is also rumors of stock fraud.

Some of the town's residents mention sightings of Old Nick, a local recluse. Some fear he caused the fire. Emma isn't so sure, but she's never seen Old Nick and sets out to learn more about him.

Vida Runkel, The Alpine Advocate's House & Home editor, assists Emma in her investigation. Can Vida and Emma uncover the truth without putting themselves in danger?

I love this series. Emma and Vida are such fun characters. The other residents of Alpine, Washington, just add to the enjoyment of this series. Being from Washington State myself, I enjoy the landmarks that are mentioned.

The author always does such a great job of crafting a wonderful plot that leaves you guessing as to the culprit's identity. The Alpine Recluse will not disappoint. I highly recommend it!

Daheim writes with compassion and longing in her latest book. Every year, the series gets better with each new outing. THE ALPINE RECLUSE draws readers into a peril world of fear and deceipt. Besides the juggle of running a newspaper and solving crime, Emma and Milo's dispute between each other make this book a winner. Vida's gossipy personality also creates a world of mischief in Alpine, Washington. The ending may be a bit of a stretch here, but not all the books can be winners. Nonetheless, I enjoy every Emma Lord caper to date, and hope for future adventures with one of my favorite editors in the publishing business.

Mary Daheim has done it again. She's one of the best writers of this genre that I can recall. It's a must to read.

Once again, Mary Daheim has forced me to abandon my social life in order to catch up on the latest exploits of Emma Lord and her loyal staff at the Alpine Advocate. After 20 odd books, each character feels like family -- so much so, that I'm tempted to draw up a genealogy of the residents of this demi-mythical town! My husband can't understand my obsessions with series of mysteries like this; imagine his confusion when I recently discovered that Mary had written an entirely different series I have yet to complete! Here's an example from the Bed-and-Breakfast series... Major Vices (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries)

Brew a good cuppa tea and enjoy!