Rating: 
Summary: Fine Addition To A Great Series
Review: Judith McMonigle Flynn, owner of Hillside Manor B&B needs some place to stay while her business is being renovated after a fire. Luckily her cousin Renie comes to the rescue, she has to attend a convention at the Native American Stillasnowamish Casino and invites Judith to come along. Judith, her husband, retired homicide detective and now Private investigator, Joe Flynn, Cousin Renie and her husband Bill, and a nightmare for any vacation, their mothers. Gertrude who now lives in a converted toolshed at the B&B because she refuses to live in the same house with Judith & "LunkHead" and Renie's mom, Aunt Deb, who still considers her daughter to be about twelve and in need of constant reminders about wearing sweaters and not talking to strangers. What starts out as a semi-peaceful vacation changes quickly when after sitting through the magic show of The Great Mandolini, his beautiful assistant is found dead. The tribal detective Jack Jackrabbit asks for Joe's assitance in solving this case, but not being asked to help doesn't stop Judith from trying to solve the mystery. I don't want to tell much more about the plot, but this latest book has a lot of great twists and turns before it is resolved and I never saw any of it coming. It is a very funny book. Cousin Renie seems to know everything about gambling and her descriptions of some of the weird slot games she's playing are hilarious. Her husband Bill seems to spend most of his time observing the games for days before he plays. He's got a system. Aunt Deb is a big hit at the convention after she takes her daughters place because Renie can't pull herself away from the casino. And Gertrude discovers Keno on the TV in her room. I read a lot of these series mysteries and I think this one is the best. If you're a brand new reader, I would suggest you try to read the books in order. Each book does stand alone as a great mystery, but the relationships of the people evolve over each book, for instance, in the first book, "Just Desserts" Joe & Judith meet up again after 20 years when he comes to investigate a murder at her B&B, how they get back together and why they broke up in the first place and what happened over the intervening 20 years is explained over several books. There are usually references to previous crimes and characters, such as the idiot sheriff from the book "A Fit Of Tempera", Sheriff Abbott N. Costello who makes a return visit in this book. The author does give you enough information that you know who or what they are without having to have read the previous book.
Rating:
Summary: Fine Addition To A Great Series
Review: Judith McMonigle Flynn, owner of Hillside Manor B&B needs some place to stay while her business is being renovated after a fire. Luckily her cousin Renie comes to the rescue, she has to attend a convention at the Native American Stillasnowamish Casino and invites Judith to come along. Judith, her husband, retired homicide detective and now Private investigator, Joe Flynn, Cousin Renie and her husband Bill, and a nightmare for any vacation, their mothers. Gertrude who now lives in a converted toolshed at the B&B because she refuses to live in the same house with Judith & "LunkHead" and Renie's mom, Aunt Deb, who still considers her daughter to be about twelve and in need of constant reminders about wearing sweaters and not talking to strangers. What starts out as a semi-peaceful vacation changes quickly when after sitting through the magic show of The Great Mandolini, his beautiful assistant is found dead. The tribal detective Jack Jackrabbit asks for Joe's assitance in solving this case, but not being asked to help doesn't stop Judith from trying to solve the mystery. I don't want to tell much more about the plot, but this latest book has a lot of great twists and turns before it is resolved and I never saw any of it coming. It is a very funny book. Cousin Renie seems to know everything about gambling and her descriptions of some of the weird slot games she's playing are hilarious. Her husband Bill seems to spend most of his time observing the games for days before he plays. He's got a system. Aunt Deb is a big hit at the convention after she takes her daughters place because Renie can't pull herself away from the casino. And Gertrude discovers Keno on the TV in her room. I read a lot of these series mysteries and I think this one is the best. If you're a brand new reader, I would suggest you try to read the books in order. Each book does stand alone as a great mystery, but the relationships of the people evolve over each book, for instance, in the first book, "Just Desserts" Joe & Judith meet up again after 20 years when he comes to investigate a murder at her B&B, how they get back together and why they broke up in the first place and what happened over the intervening 20 years is explained over several books. There are usually references to previous crimes and characters, such as the idiot sheriff from the book "A Fit Of Tempera", Sheriff Abbott N. Costello who makes a return visit in this book. The author does give you enough information that you know who or what they are without having to have read the previous book.
Rating: 
Summary: What a nasty trick!
Review: Judith, Renie, their mothers and their husbands leave the Bed & Breakfast to the renovating contractors, and head off to the Stillasnowamish Resort Casino for a vacation. Renie becomes so hooked on gambling, she sends her mother to take her place at a graphics-design conference she's supposed to be attending. Judith isn't really interested in gambling, but when she spies some progressive slot machines with the grand prize a beautiful red Corvette, she decides to try to win it for Joe. Glancing up at the 'Vette suspended above the slots, Judith is horrified to see the body of a magician's blonde assistant stuffed into the car. Joe is asked to assist in the official investigation, and Judith sleuths unofficially and tries to get Renie to quit gambling and help her. It was interesting to get Judith & Renie out of the B & B where they solve most of their mysteries, and I found the casino setting fun. However, there is a plot twist at the end that I thought was both mean and unfair, to Judith if not necessarily the reader. It spoiled my enjoyment of the story, which I would have given a higher rating otherwise. Hope Ms. Daheim returns to her usual writing style for the next book, "This Old Souse".
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste time or money
Review: This series has been going downhill for awhile now, but this book just may be the end of the road for me.
As the series has progressed, Judith has become irritating and unlikeable, but the supporting cast made the books tolerable. However, not even Renie and Gertrude could save this one.
The "surprise twist" at the end was lame. But worse was the story itself, with Judith continuing to stick her nose into things that don't concern her and get people to yap her ear off just because "she likes people." It's been a lame premise for getting her involved in the mysteries through entire series, but it just came across as completely ridiculous this time.
The dialogue is painful to read, the writing has become amateur. Ms. Daheim should put this series to bed and concentrate on the Alpine series, which is still enjoyable.
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