Customer Reviews

Bantam of the Opera (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries)

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

 

 

I really want to like this Mary Daheim series of Bed and Breakfast Mysteries. I am a devout fan of her other series, The Alpine books. But time and again I keep shaking my head at the lead character, Judith's, actions. Why in the world would she want her foul mouthed, disagreeable, insulting mother any where near her? Any normal person would be dancing a jig to get some distance between them! And this worrying about what Joe thinks....it's her house, and if he didn't like anything, I'd tell him to take a hike!! Please!

The end to this mystery is so convuluted one would need a chart to try to figure it out. I've read all the previous novels in this series, and keep hoping that they will live up to their sister series, the Alpine novels. Not yet.

I've read much worse books, but this one is certainly no mystery classic.

This is one book in a series of bed-and-breakfast mysteries set in Seattle, Washington. Anyone familiar with the city can tell that the author, Mary Daheim, has changed the place names, but retained the feel of the city in accurate descriptions. Heraldsgate Hill is really Queen Anne Hill. Norway General Hospital is really Swedish Hospital. Papaya Pete's restaurant is really Trader Vics. Donner and Blitzen department store is really the now defunct Frederick and Nelsons. Nordquist is Nordstroms. The Belle Epoch is The Bon Marche, now known just as The Bon. Moonbeams coffee house is really Starbucks, and so on. The descriptions are so accurately and fondly drawn that the reader experiences a warm sense of being there, especially if one has actually lived in Seattle at one time. The relationships of the characters are sometimes feisty but honest and often very funny. I recommend this whole series.

As an opera buff, I love whodunits set in the opera world, and this is a good one. A fat opera tenor is murdered during the first act of La Traviata, and it's up to the woman who runs the bread-and-breakfast that he and his entourage are staying at to solve his murder. There are lots of interesting supporting characters. The unmasking of the murderer is sufficiently complex and plausible. A lot of the dialogue is crisp and tangy. The relationships are complex. The bickering is amusing. I can fully recommend this one.

Judith McMonigle Flynn runs a bed-and-breakfast in the Seattle area. Her latest guests are the egotistical opera star, Mario Pacetti, and his entourage. Judith is led a merry chase while she keeps up with the various demands of this group. She and her cousin Renie decide to go to Pacetti's performance, but during the first show he dies! Since Judith's policeman husband is away at a convention, what's a girl to do but to solve the mystery without him. The plot and its solution are somewhat convoluted but, all in all, this is a satisfying mystery with amusing characters.