Customer Reviews

Saks and Violins (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries)

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

 

 

If you've been reading the Bed & Breakfast series from the beginning it is obvious that the quality of the stories has decreased. Dead Man Docking, her last book was ok, but this one is definitely the worst of the series.

I'd describe the storyline but it's so convuluted with multiple stories, including a murder, a missing violin bow worth a fortune. An old murder. Possible illegetimate child, Nutty people. Ex-wives, stepchildren, drug addicts, alcoholics mysterious strangers and a partridge in a pear tree.

It never comes together into a coherant story. Not only don't I care who committed the murder, I'm just sorry more of these loser characters didn't bite the dust.

I think Mary Daheim should consider starting a new book series with fresh characters and leave Judith and Renie alone for a while. I would rather wait a couple of years and get a tight, exciting mystery where you can't put down the book (as many of the earlier books are)instead of a book every year or so that just doesn't seem worth the effort to read.

Highlights:

No matter how bad the book, Judith has always been a great character. Very loving and very funny. I love her romance with her husband Joe, although he has almost disappeared from the storyline for the last few books.

Humor. Not as funny as they used to be, but I still find Renie's obcession with her stuffed Ape and live bunny to be very funny.

Lowlights:

Bad and boring mystery.

Cousin Renie: There is a small line between eccentric and nutty. Renie has now crossed the line. What used to be funny about her messy, aggressive manner has become annoying. I would be embarrassed to ever be in a public place with her as her behavior has become so annoying.

Gertrude: Her nasty behavior has increased as the series continues and is no longer funny, just because she's old doesn't make it any less abusive.

Very disappointing, I agree with another reviewer, if you're just starting the series, don't begin with this book. Go back to the beginning for some really great reads.

I have read all of Mary Daheim's bed and breakfast novels and have enjoyed most of them. I won't go into the story details, which the other reviewers have already nicely done. From the beginning I felt Ms. Danheim's heart was not into this novel. Even Judith protesting that she was through with sleuthing a number of times...well, I had to agree with her that as many characters and twists and double twist that this book had, I would have given up also. Too many extra mysteries thrown in making it difficult to concentrate on the main one. I found too many parts of the book annoying in content and so I would skip quickly, which I don't like to do! Gertrude use to be funny, but now she is more annoying and if Ms. Danheim had a heart, she would give her a nice burial. Judith is a slave to solving a mystery but has to stop to get her mother's lunch or dinner because the old women brow beats her until she does by calling her insulting names. Not funny anymore. That scene has been played out too many times and has lost its humor. Cousin Renie is the only one with a backbone.....Judith could take a lesson. Joe, Judith's husband, is once again off somewhere NOT being involved, but even when he is home he is no help. Phyliss, the housekeeper and Sweetums, the cat, keep the whole thing going. If you are new to Mary Daheim's B&B's......please do not read this one first. You won't want to pick up another. If you are a fan you will want to read it because we are hooked, bad or good.

After 30 pages of unpleasant characters and murky explanations of how they were connected, I gave up and returned this one to the library. This was a classic case of judging the book by it's attractive cover and cutesy title. If the previous books in the series were better, then I am sorry that I started with this one. There is nothing really horrible here, just nothing that compels the reader to invest much time.

Bed-and-breakfast owner Judith Flynn and her husband Joe are tired of hearing their neighbor Rudi practice his violin in their cul-de-sac. When Rudi's mentor, Dolph, comes to town, he chooses to stay at the B & B. Things get hectic soon as dead bodies begin to appear and a priceless violin bow and cousin Renie's credit cards begin to disappear. The relationships between characters are complicated and confusing and by the time the book ends, it's hard to tell who did what to whom. I agree with some of the other reviewers who wrote that Judith's mother is too mean-spirited to be funny and cousin Renie is pretty far out with her nasty temper and devotion to a stuffed monkey whom she treats as a human being.

Perhaps it is time to retire this series.

Money is tight for Judith McGonigle Flynn and her cousin Renie. Judith's Bed and Breakfast isn't attracting as many customers as it used to and Renie isn't getting any offers for her graphic design work and is seriously in debt. Judith is also dealing with Rudi, a neighbor who likes to practice his violin at all hours of the night. To top it all off, Judith's latest guests are an odd bunch and she's not too happy when one of them is murdered. Add in Renie's missing credit cards and Rudi's missing violin bow and Judith and Renie are knee deep in murder and mayhem - yet again.

"Saks and Violins" is an okay entry in Mary Daheim's Bed and Breakfast cozy mystery series. All of the characters that make the series so enjoyable - Judith, Renie, Judith's husband Joe, and her mother Gertrude - are in this book. The gentle sense of humor in the series is also in this book. But this book seems over the top, even for this series. Judith's neighbor Arlene is a perfect example. She's always been nosy, but she takes it to a new level in this book with her probing. Renie's worrying about her debts never quite worked for me as she was still wearing $2,000 outfits. The reaction of the 911 operator was no doubt meant to be funny but struck me as unprofessional instead. Judith's worrying over her artificial hip wore thin quickly - isn't the point of getting a new hip that one walks better with it? As for the mystery elements, for me the biggest problem was that there were too many characters and I got confused as to who was who and how they were related to each other. However, the mystery itself is well plotted, with plenty of suspects and red herrings and readers will have a hard time figuring out whodunit.

"Saks and Violins" is an okay cozy mystery.

Really am angered about the way the author protrays people with artifical hips. I suppose there are some who may have post op problems, but the majority of us can do perfectly normal everyday things after hip surgery. I walk well, play golf, garden,do aqua aerobics and also can get down on the floor and back up again without help. Her references to her inability to perform everyday tasks in this book I find quite irritating. It gives the impression that if you have hip surgery, you are going to be crippled. Not a good image to give to someone who is contemplating such surgery. This book really isn't as good as some she has done before.

I really like this series of books and did enjoy the plot for this one , but by half way through, I was so sick of comments on her artificial hip! I have friends who have them and never hear "I have to be so careful because of the hip replacement", much less every other sentence.Mention it once or twice, but I bet it was at least 20 or 30 times through the book. If you can ignore that, the book was pretty good otherwise.

Hillside Manor B&B proprietors Joe Flynn and Judith McMonigle Flynn have a new neighbor. Symphony violinist Rudi Wittener and his young girlfriend Taryn are renting Joe's ex-wife's house next door to the Flynn's B&B. The tight-knit neighborhood is up in arms because Wittener practices at all hours of the day and night and has been known to practice outside in the nude.

When a group of Wittener's friends (who all seem to be crazy) come to visit, they take up residence at Hillside Manor. Dolph Kluger, Wittener's mentor, is one of the guests. And while the neighbors would love to kill Wittener, it is Kluger who dies. Following the death, a valuable violin bow goes missing and Judith's cousin Renie's credit cards are stolen.

Judith and Renie have money problems. Renie's credit cards are maxed and her graphic design business is slow. And Judith's B&B is tied up by the police who are trying to solve a murder so there's no money coming in at the moment. Judith and Renie jump into the fray to solve the murder and keep themselves solvent.

Mary Daheim keeps the reader guessing in Saks & Violins. It's an interesting amateur sleuth novel, but there is too much happening and it becomes frenetic and confusing at times with the large cast of characters. Judith's elderly mother makes numerous appearances. Her degrading and mean-spiritedness makes her character one I'd like to knock off. She's overly demanding and calls everyone (including her daughter and son-in-law) awful names. I also found Judith to be a contradiction. She's great at solving crimes but behaves like a doormat, allowing everyone and anyone to walk all over her and then just sighs.

Armchair Interviews says: Saks & Violins is a good mystery, but one that could better.

Hillside Manor Bed and Breakfast owner Judith McGonigle Flynn is frustrated with her new neighbor, violinist Rudi Wittener who plays or listen to his recording at any hour of the day; the musician is driving everyone including her, her staff and her guests crazy. Adding to the insanity cousin Serene "Renie" Jones arrives to announce they must sell items to pay off their Saks Fifth Avenue credit card tab during their recent escapade (see DEAD MAN DOCKING); Judith cannot help much as the B and B is in the off season.

So with the need of funds, Judith agrees to host a reception for Rudi's visiting mentor Dolph Kluger at Hillside Manor. Renie provides "shoplifted" rhubarb to the party. The gala goes off smoothly, but later that same night, Dolph dies from rhubarb poisoning. Feeling guilty though she is innocent, Judith begins making inquiries into who had a motive to kill Dolph; she learns quickly many people hated the talented musician. Soon afterward as someone steals Renie's to the max credit cards, Rudi's expensive violin bow is purloined. Judith wonders if the three incidents are connected and if so when she finds the line through them will it take her to the killer?

SAKS AND VIOLINS is a terrific B&B amateur sleuth tale that fans of the series will enjoy as the setting returns to Hillside (after the SF adventure). The story line is driven by the cousins who separately seem logical, but when they get together chaos is the norm. The whodunit is fun to follow, but as always Mary Daheim's latest B&B is served up by Renie and Judith proving that the whole is greater than the sum of the two parts.

Harriet Klausner