Loco Motive (Bed-and-Breakfast Series #25)

by Mary Daheim

Overview

“Daheim writes with wit, wisdom, and a big heart. I love her books.”
—Carolyn Hart

 

Another deft and daffy Bed-and-Breakfast mystery from the indomitable Mary Daheim—“The reigning Queen of the Cozies” (Portland Oregonian)—Loco Motive races full speed ahead with mystery and hilarity, as B&B hostess and amateur sleuth Judith McMonigal Flynn and her cousin Renie find their train ride to Boston has been derailed by murder most foul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061351570
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/26/2011
Series:	Bed-and-Breakfast Series , #25
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	236,163
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Mary Richardson Daheim is a Seattle native with a communications degree from the University of Washington. Realizing at an early age that getting published in books with real covers might elude her for years, she worked on daily newspapers and in public relations to help avoid her creditors. She lives in her hometown in a century-old house not unlike Hillside Manor, except for the body count. Daheim is also the author of the Alpine mystery series, the mother of three daughters, and has three grandchildren.

Editorial Reviews

In Daheim's plodding 25th Bed-and-Breakfast mystery (after 2008's Vi Agra Falls), innkeeper and librarian Judith McMonigle Flynn takes a cross-country train trip with bumpy results. After aging daredevil Wee Willie Weevil performs a stunt that goes awry at Judith's Hillside Manor B&B in Seattle, Wash., his female assistant, Pepper Gundy, goes off in a huff, promising a lawsuit. Judith and cousin Serena "Renie" Jones soon board Amtrak's Empire Builder train to Boston, planning a mini-vacation with their husbands, Joe and Bill, who are flying to Beantown (Renie's afraid of planes). Surprisingly, they discover the injured Willie, Pepper, and another assistant also onboard. Problems escalate after a helpful train attendant vanishes, a train-stopping accident occurs, and Willie is found dead in a sleeping car compartment. The convoluted plotting and irksome characters may leave new readers cold, but faithful fans will savor this latest challenge for the B&B Nancy Drew. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Wisecracking cousins board a cross-country train and watch the corpses whiz by.

Renie, who hates to fly, convinces her cousin, B&B owner Judith, to take a restful Amtrak sleeper, West Coast to East, to meet their husbands, who have business engagements in Boston. What a coincidence! Half the passengers occupying neighboring compartments had been recent guests at Judith's Hillside Manor, including way-past-prime daredevil actor Wee Willie Weevil, who, on a dare, tried flying out of a second-story inn window and landed himself in a thorn bush and Judith in a $30 million lawsuit. Wee Willie is soon dead, the Amtrak attendant Roy gone missing and several other mishaps await: a collision with a pickup truck carrying beets; four passengers stranded in the middle of nowhere; spotty cell-phone reception; a camera lost from luggage; a man who gets off the train with sideburns and back on without them; and as many folks using aliases and slipping in and out of bedrooms as in a French farce. On top of it all, the snow is really coming down. Undaunted, Judith makes friends and breaks alibis, but it's up to Renie to save her from being pitched off the train by a good thwack from a sock loaded with horse chestnuts.

Fast-paced, droll and lively fun for old friends of the two-dozen other Bed-and-Breakfast mysteries (Vi Agra Falls, 2008, etc.). It may even tempt you to head for the depot instead of the airport.

Kirkus Reviews