Bantam of the Opera (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries) [Kindle Edition]

Mary Daheim (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Bed-and-breakfast hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn isn't exactly bellowing "Bravo!" over the news that obnoxious opera star Mario Pacetti and his entourage are coming to stay at the Hillside Manor. The world-class tenor is a renowned pain-in-the-neck—a bloated buffoon who could easily eat her out of house and home. So when the puffed-up, would-be Pavarotti inadvertently drinks poison and falls down dead on his tosca, accusing eyes turn to Judith and her amateur sleuthing partner, cousin Renie. Now it's curtains unless the cousins can unmask the real culprit—before a killer's final, fatal encore.

About the Author

Mary Richardson Daheim is a Seattle native who started telling stories with pictures because she didn't know how to write.  After acquiring the rudiments in grade school, Daheim penned her first mystery novel at age eleven.  She admits it was terrible, but "showed promise."  Thus encouraged, she went on to graduate from the University of Washington's School of Communications, having acquired the knowledge and skills to support herself until she wrote a better book.

In 1983, Daheim published her first historical romance, Love's Pirate, for Avon Books.  She followed this award-winning novel with Destiny's Pawn, Pride's Captive and Passion's Triumph, all for Avon, as well as several historicals for Harlequin.  An avid mystery reader, Daheim decided to try her hand at murder and mayhem with the creation of the Bed-and-Breakfast series from Avon, beginning with Just Desserts, and followed by Fowl Prey, Holy Terrors, Dune to Death, Bantam of the Opera, A Fit of Tempera and Major Vices.

Daheim is married to David Daheim, an instructor of cinema, literature, and English at Shoreline Community College.  The Daheims have three daughters: Barbara, Katherine, and Magdalen.  Daheim is member of the Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 230 KB
• Print Length: 260 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0380769344
• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books (October 13, 2009)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000OI0EKO
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,230 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I just don't get it!, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bantam of the Opera (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seattle's Queen Anne Hill!, September 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bantam of the Opera (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars cute and clever, January 15, 2011

By 

adorian - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bantam of the Opera (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.