Customer Reviews

Wed and Buried (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries)

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

 

 

I have loved almost all Daheim's books, and reading them in no certain order, but this was one I couldn't wait to put down and not recommend. It seems no thought was given to the characters.....they have no real substance to them like in her other books. Judith herself seems like she has lost her gumption along with her wit and is just rambling through this story trying to out-do her hubby in guessing the murderer, even though she denies it. There is no heart in her sleuthing and even Renie seems less like Renie. Even Gertrude was down right annoying and I usually just find her annoyingly funny! Maybe Daheim's heart wasn't into this book when she was writing. It sure shows. If it weren't for Sweetums and Phyliss I would have put the book down.

What in the world? Ms. Daheim is dumbing poor ole Judith down...so much that I wished I could have slapped the woman (i.e. Judith) in this Bed-and-Breakfast mystery, Wed and Buried.

Judith Flynn has become even worse than Jessica Fletcher: a STUPID meddling woman. Even Mother Gertrude is starting to wear on the reader in this book of the series...how can anyone be as stupid as Judith in tolerating the treatment from this woman who is her mother? OK, Judith (with Renie's help) solves mysteries but does Judith have to be so naive and unintelligent to what is going on around her? Come on, Ms. Daheim, put some intelligence back into Judith!

Wed and Buried did not have the usual Daheim twists and certainly introduced a dumber Judith...and Renie didn't win any honors for intelligence, either! Even Hubby Joe seems to have been dumbed down. I found little humor in this novel, whereas I have chuckled through Ms. Daheim's previous novels of this Bed-and-Breakfast series.

I am in the process of reading this series of mysteries in succession and am becoming very disappointed in them. Think I'll bag this Bed-and-Breakfast series and latch onto Mary's Alpine mystery series where the female lead is intelligent...

Yes, more please. I have introduced Mary Daheim and her Bed and Breakfast novels to many of my friends. They read and also beg for more. Keep them coming.

Mary Daheim's 12th (I think) Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery is a BIG disappointment. I really try to support my fellow Washingtonians when they turn author, buying works which I freely admit are not always first-rate. I enjoy the local color and keep hoping they'll improve if we faithful readers keep them financially afloat. BUT...after a dozen books, Daheim is getting worse, not better, and I am pulling the plug! Wed and Buried lacks suspense, lacks humor, and lacks charm. Sleuth Judith Flynn is more than usually limp and brainless, cop husband Joe is boring and patronizing, and standbys such as Cousin Renie and Obnoxious Mom lack enough buoyancy to keep this leaden tome afloat. A Cozy Mystery, by definition, should have charm and chuckles. If it's played for farce, it needs the kind of wacky realism one recognizes in good screen comedy--real people caricatured to the point of hilarity. If it's played for satire, it requires a dry understated wit. Daheim, by contrast, has created a cartoon version of Luci and Desi--a charmless Desi and a whiny Luci. Cousin Renie repeatedly asks Judith why she's bothering to try to solve the mystery of the dead disk jockey, and long before the last page, I found myself wondering the same thing. Why bother, Judith, to solve this mystery? Why bother, Mary, to WRITE this mystery? Why bother, Dear Reader, to read this mystery? Never again.

Having read the other 11 books in this series, I was a little disappointed in this one. The book starts out well enough with the wedding of Judith Flynn's son Mike and his long-time girlfriend, Kristen. We have heard a lot about Mike in previous books in the series, but this is the first time he has actually appeared in one. While they are at the rehearsal dinner for Mike's wedding, Judith sees a man in a tux pushing a woman in a bridal gown over a balcony. When her policeman husband Joe is unable to find a body, Judith begins to doubt her sanity. Thereafter we are introduced to a parade of characters, who seem eccentric but somewhat disconnected. Judith, of course, continues her own investigation, trying to stay one step ahead of her husband. The plot is hard to follow and when the killer was revealed I almost didn't care any more. In her attempt to throw out red herrings, author Danheim just makes this book difficult to read.