This Old Souse : A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery

Rating:
Summary: BED AND BREAKFAST MYSTERY SERVED WITH LAUGHTER
Review: For those who like their mystery delivered with a light touch, Mary Daheim's back with the 20th in her highly readable Bed and Breakfast series. Of course, protagonists are the deft and daffy pseudo detective cousins Judith and Renie.

As an interesting aside, author Daheim has said that she bases her characters on family members. Guess who Renie is? That's right, Mary herself. And Judith is based on Mary's cousin Judy. At last report all relations have a great sense of humor and enjoy seeing what this writer will come up with next - as do readers.

With This Old Souse Renie returns to her former neighborhood in Seattle and B & B hostess Judith. As women will, the two began talking about anything and everything when the subject of an old, rather creepy Spanish villa came up. It seems the manse on Moonfleet Street has been abandoned, vacant for many years. They remember it from high school days; why not pop over there and see how it looks now.

Much to their surprise, despite its appearance, the house has been lived in since the mid 1940s by a family, the Blands - Dick and Jane and her unmarried sister, Sally. The inquisitive pair find out more from a friendly, voluble milkman who tells them he's been delivering milk there for ages. The mailman can't contribute much to this puzzle as he's never seen the family. Their groceries are delivered, and they pay all their bills in cash which is left in the milk box.

This is more than enough to pique the girls' interest, but they decide the Blands are simply eccentric - that is until Judith opens her car trunk to find a dead body. The recently departed? The milkman. Now, things are more than serious, they're sinister. As they begin to investigate further Judith and Renie find that the Blands may be more than they an handle.

As always, Mary Daheim keeps readers laughing and guessing until the last page.

- Gail Cooke


Rating:
Summary: A bit too slapstick this time
Review: I like this series a lot. I look forward to the next one. However, this one seemed "off" - as though a good ghostwriter stepped in here. Renie and Bill came off as downright obnoxious, rather than the eccentrics I believe the author was intending. Mike seemed truly irresponsible. Gertrude was saved by her (ill-disguised) concern when she realized her daughter might be in trouble, but was as annoyingly over-the-top as the rest of the gang. Regarding Judith herself, she never seemed all that concerned or frightened; it seemed more that she worked at solving the murder because it "inconvenienced" her.
Two final points: 1) Judith says she "only saw Luke once, [across the room] at the Café ..." yet she has a face-to-face encounter with him later that day? 2) Phyliss-the-fundie-cleaninglady is a HOOT!


Rating:
Summary: Not up to the rest of the series
Review: I really like this series, but think this is a weaker offering than some of the others. Mary Daheim can be really funny and the characters are lovable exaggerations, but with plenty of human foibles to interest the reader as well as amuse. In this book, though, it seemed as if the author were writing with only part of her attention on her work. The plot and the characters' behavior seemed to repeat themselves from the other books, and the machinations to move the plot along were tiring and too contrived (how many reasons can Judith find to return to the Blands' house?). The strong point of this series has been the believability, just a little skewed, of the characters, but this time, they are almost irritating. Overall, it lacked the freshness I've found in the other offerings in this series.

Rating:
Summary: Another entertaining "cozy" from Mary Daheim
Review: Judith Flynn's cousin Renie has always been fascinated by an old house in the neighborhood where she grew up. She convinces Judith that something strange is going on there and they need to investigate. It seems like a dark, deserted place but a couple named Dick and Jane Bland live there. They are rarely seen and their food is delivered to the door. As they continue their investigation the cousins find that a mysterious package arrives at the house once a year. Judith gets more than she bargains for when a dead body shows up in the trunk of her car as she and Renie are doing surveillance on the house. The police feel that Judith is a likely suspect for the murder, so her investigative efforts are now carried on for her own protection. As usual, Judith's friends and family provide a comic background, especially her cat Sweetums and her cantankerous mother who lives in a converted tool shed. Judith is also concerned because of marital problems between her son Mike and his wife Kristen. Daheim fans should enjoy this latest entry in the Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery series.

Rating:
Summary: See Dick And Jane?
Review: Judith McMonigle Flynn was minding her own business, waiting for guests to show up at her bed and breakfast.

Unfortunately, her Cousin Renie shows up with her latest Graphic Arts project, SuperGerm. Convincing Judith to go with her while she drops it's off, and to have a look at the house on Moonfleet Street.

This house has obsessed Renie for fifty years. In all that time, she had never seen anyone go in or out of the house, no one in the yard, not even kids, although she had seen children's toys in the yard when she was young. She didn't even know the name of the people who lived in the house.

Judith doesn't really care, she has a bigger problem. Her son Mike and his wife Kristin have separated. Kristin has gone off to visit her parents, leaving Forest Ranger Mike with the two little boys.

But when her husband Joe, ex-cop and current private detective is deep in an investigation of his own and has to go to Omaha on a case, she's at loose ends and decides to help Renie find out whose living in the house.

It doesn't take long to find out the house has been inhabited since 1947 by Dick and Jane Bland and Jane's sister Sally. Dick and Jane even had two kids, Anna, their natural child and Luke, who was adopted. But they can't find anyone, including neighbors who have ever seen any of them.

Snooping around the house, Judith and Renie talk to the milkman Vern Benson, who tells them the Blands get their groceries and mail dropped off regularly and leave the money for him in the milk box. He's never seen anyone from the house, either.

That probably would have been the end of it, however, later that day, when Judith opens the trunk of her car to put in the groceries, she finds the body of the milkman, Vern Benson.

Suddenly, Judith is glad Joe is in Omaha. It doesn't help when the two detectives, Glenn Morris & Jonathan Trashman consider her a suspect in the crime.

Deciding she better clear herself, Judith, along with her sidekick Renie starts her own investigation and is stunned to find out the dead man wasn't Vern Benson the milkman, but someone named Frank Purvis, who doesn't seem to have existed before showing up pretending to be the milkman.

Why was he at the Bland's house? And why can't they ever meet Dick & Jane. They do manage to meet the adult Anna & Luke and even their grandson, a local newscaster but the Blands remain as elusive as ever.

Could Frank Purvis's death have anything to do with the large package that had been delivered to the Blands. When Judith & Renie find out that a package was delivered every year at the same time to the Blands, they become even more suspicious.

And why do the police seem so reluctant to investigate the crime?

Judith is determined to solve the crime, hopefully before Joe gets back from Omaha.

Highlights:

Joe & Judith's relationship. I just wish he had been in this story more.

Cousin Renie is always a hoot and I love her fights with Phyllis Rackley, Judith's cleaning lady.

Gertrude - Judith's mother who has agreed for her daughter's sake to stop calling Joe, Lunkhead. Afterall, Knucklehead works just as well.

Cousin Renie and her husband Bills all out campaign to rid their property of the dreaded squirrel.

Sweetum's the cat. This cat is a true character in the book. I don't particularly like cats, but I wouldn't mind having this one.

Good mystery. Never guessed what was going on.

I think the Mary Daheim Bed & Breakfast series is the best series in the mystery genre. Not only are they a good mystery, but are very funny. The relationships between Judith and her huge family of cousins, uncles and aunts are wonderful. Even though people such as her Uncle Corky and Aunt Theodora usually appear on a page or so in each book, you get a real sense of the closeness of this extended family.

If you've reading the series, be sure and get an anthology novel called "Motherhood is Murder." There are 4 stories in the book and one of them is a Mary Daheim short story, which includes the wedding of Renie's 3 children. 3 weddings on the same day at 3 different locations. Only Carolyn Hart's name shows up when you bring up the book, but don't be fooled.

Lowlights: No lowlights, except that it will probably be another a year or so before we get the next one. If you haven't read them yet, try Mary Daheim's Alpine Series. I don't think it's as good as her bed & breakfast, but much better than a lot of other series you will read. I have reviewed that entire series, if you want to check them out.







Rating:
Summary: The house seems deserted, is it?
Review: Judith's cousin Renie asks her to accompany her to her old neighborhood. She wants to take a look at an old house on Moonfleet that has always intrigued her. It has always seemed deserted.

Judith's husband Joe is out of town and she can get away from her Bed & Breakfast for a little while, she agrees. When they arrive, they run into an old mailman that Renie had run ins with years ago. They learn that the house isn't deserted. People do live there. They get mail, milk and packages delivered.

The milkman tells them that Dick and Jane Bland, along with Jane's spinster sister, Sally, live there.

Judith comes back alone one day to get a better look. She parks her car in the alley behind on the house and gets out. She finds out that they get one UPS package a year from Austria. Finally she goes on with her errands. At the grocery store, she opens the car trunk to load her bags and finds the dead milkman from the Moonfleet house.

Of course, she is a suspect. Her car is impounded. Renie comes to pick her up.

On top of all this, Judith's son Mike and his wife Kristen have split up. Neither Joe nor Judith can understand this. Mike and their two boys go to stay with Uncle Al until Kristin can get her stuff out and head to her parents'.

Judith and Renie must uncover the truth before Joe returns. They end up getting themselves into much hot water before they can sort everything out.

The author has done a fabulous job of creating these characters. All of them are terrific. I love reading books in this series. They are entertaining and there is always a good mystery for them to unravel!

I highly recommend this book and series.


Rating:
Summary: great amateur sleuth
Review: The owner of the popular bed and breakfast Hillside Manor, Judith McMonigle Flynn is having a nice day when her cousin Renie asks her to go to the old neighborhood to see Moonfleet, a beautifully looking home badly in need of repairs. The owners of the home have lived there for over five decades but nobody has ever really talked to them. They keep to themselves and have their food delivered. Their sister Sally lives with them but she is as reclusive as they are.

While casing the premises, Judith and Renie meet the dairy man who tells them he never sees the occupants of Moonfleet. A UPS truck delivers a package to them leaving it outside their home. He tells the cousins that once a year on the same date the package is delivered to that address. When Judith goes shopping, she finds the murdered body of the dairy man in the trunk of her car. The mystery surrounding Moonfleet becomes very personal to the cousins so they seek answers.

The latest Bed-and-Breakfast mystery is a great amateur sleuth story due mainly to the heroine. She has to keep her husband from finding out about her investigation, find her lost precious cat and cope with the marital woes of her son and her daughter in law while solving a mystery. This is a fabulous book in a fantastic mystery series. Mary Daheim deserves a career achievement award for her continuous high quality and unique originality.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: The greatest bed and breakfast comedic mystery ever!
Review: This is another comedy of Judith, who gets caught in another curiosity kills the cat situation. Judith gets interested in this mysterious looking house on Moonfleet Street. So she goes exploring and while she is there her and this milkman start talking. He leaves and she's done exploring and goes to the grocery store. When she opens the trunk the dead milkman, who is Frank Purvis is laying there lifeless. Glen, the detective, comes and says he is going to question the house's owner, Sally, and see if she saw anything. Judith thinks something is going on and she finds out that Glen and Sally are smuggling expensive paintings into the house and are mother and son.That is why they tried to make it look so mysterious. So Glen is a crooked cop, Sally is psycho, and Frank, the milkman, was an undercover investigator trying to crack the case on the paintings that were being smuggled. Judith got into this mess just by exploring the house. This is a great book, you will not want to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Good mystery...
Review: When cousins Judith and Renie smell a mystery you can guarantee that trouble is not far behind. This time is no different. When Renie's interest hones in on an old Spanish villa situated on Moonfleet Street, Judith tries to stay focused on her B&B. But then the villa's milkman ends up dead and in her trunk! So Judith gets sucked into the mystery of the old villa also.

The house, owned by the Bland family since WWII, has not changed in sixty years. The cousins are determined to find out why, as well as learn just how the milkman ended up dead in Judith's trunk. Better yet, if he was not a milkman, then just WHO was he?

**** A slow start, but true to all mysteries it quickly grabs you and pulls you in. Once I got into it, I was lost in the follies of these cousins and all the humor they leave in their wakes. A definite read for mystery fans! ****

Reviewed by K. Blair for Huntress Reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't quite click for me
Review: When her cousin mentions an old house, B&Bmanager Judith McMonigle quickly becomes obsessed, interviewing the milkman, the deliveryman, and just about everyone else in the neighborhood. It turns out that the house is inhabited, but virtually no one ever sees the inhabitants. While snooping around Judith leaves her car for a few minutes--and comes back to find a body in her trunk. As an official suspect, she feels obligated to continue her investigation, finally breaking into the house in the middle of the night.

THIS OLD SOUSE never quite takes off. Unsympathetic characters and excessive reliance on coincidence repeatedly jar the reader out of the story. Author Mary Daheim relies on reader loyalty to a long-established series for momentum to carry the story forward rather than on plotting or characterization. Although it was well-enough written to persuade me to read to the end, I just never got into this one.

I very much enjoyed the earlier Daheim story I read. I hope THIS OLD SOUSE is an exception. For me, at least, this one didn't click.