Murder, My Suite

Fed up after dealing with gossip columnist Dagmar Delacroix Chatsworth who was a pain during her stay at Hillside Manor, Bed and Breakfast owner Judith McGonigle Flynn decides to get away for a quick vacation. Her cousin Renie has a voucher for a free stay at the Bugler Ski Resort in Canada, so the two of them go there for some rest and relaxation. Judith and Renie love the suite they are staying in, but are less than thrilled to discover that Dagmar and her entourage are also staying there. Also staying at the resort is Olympic figure skater Mia Prohowska and her coach Nat Linski who are both feuding with Dagmar. They aren't the only ones angry with some of the things that Dagmar has said in her column, so when someone in her entourage show more is murdered, there are plenty of suspects. Judith has solved a mystery or two in the past, and when her offer to help the Canadian police is rebuffed, she decides to solve the murder herself.

I've read most of the books in Mary Daheim's Bed and Breakfast series and enjoyed them, but I had mixed reactions to this one. Many of the elements that make these books work so well are there: Daheim's trademark sense of humor (especially when the "free" trip turns out to cost a small fortune in food expenses); Renie being a slob when she eats (and she's always eating); and the crustiness of Gertrude, Judith's mother. There are also some neat plot twists at the end of the book that I didn't see coming. However, Daheim relies too much on Judith's chance encounters with people who are virtually strangers to her yet they immediately tell her all kinds of secrets. Judith has no real reason to want to solve the murder and while she is usually very inquisitive in all the books in the series, in this book she comes across as just plain nosy. Even Renie, who can be very abrasive, is put off by her behavior.

In the end, "Murder My Suite" is not one of Daheim's best. show less