Review
DEAD AND BREAKFAST by Kate Kingsbury
The First Merry Ghost Inn Mystery
Melanie West was looking for a change when her grandmother, Liza Harris,
asked her to move to the Oregon coast to become her partner in owning and running
a bed and breakfast. Leaving the remnants of a nasty divorce and a
boring job as a financial analyst behind, Melanie joins her grandmother
and starts to transform the house into a B & B. Although they had
heard rumors that the house was haunted, the pair certainly did not
expect to find a skeleton during their renovations. The police halt the remodeling until a detective can further investigate this
cold case. But, Liza is not one to sit idly by and she convinces her
granddaughter that they need to investigate themselves so they can open
the inn on time and start earning the money they desperately need.
Meanwhile the sounds of male laughter when no one is near and small
items found in odd locations add to Liza's conviction, and marketing
plan, that there truly is a ghost, while unnerving Melanie, who doesn't
believe that ghosts exist.
What a fun start to a new series. Melanie and Liza make a great team: the down to earth Melanie and the exuberant, willing to take a chance Liza, who continually tried to get Melanie to stop calling her Gran! Despite some of the physical limitations that come with age, Liza is the younger fun loving soul who longs to solve the murder. Melanie, though younger in years, is weighed down more with the unpleasant realities of the world. What makes me appreciate this mystery is that Melanie doesn't go into it by declaring she has to solve the crime. Instead, she intends to do what most logical people would do, leave it to the police. It's infinitely more realistic that she would play along with her grandmother rather than pursue the murder head on.
Kate Kingsbury gives us a cold case mystery, a new murder, and the possibility of a ghost, not to mention the ongoing puzzle of Melanie's missing mother. Told with a deft, engaging style the first book in the Merry Ghost Inn Mystery series is a delight!
What a fun start to a new series. Melanie and Liza make a great team: the down to earth Melanie and the exuberant, willing to take a chance Liza, who continually tried to get Melanie to stop calling her Gran! Despite some of the physical limitations that come with age, Liza is the younger fun loving soul who longs to solve the murder. Melanie, though younger in years, is weighed down more with the unpleasant realities of the world. What makes me appreciate this mystery is that Melanie doesn't go into it by declaring she has to solve the crime. Instead, she intends to do what most logical people would do, leave it to the police. It's infinitely more realistic that she would play along with her grandmother rather than pursue the murder head on.
Kate Kingsbury gives us a cold case mystery, a new murder, and the possibility of a ghost, not to mention the ongoing puzzle of Melanie's missing mother. Told with a deft, engaging style the first book in the Merry Ghost Inn Mystery series is a delight!
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