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This old Souse: a Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery
Reviewer's Bookwatch, April, 2005
This Old Souse: A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery
Mary Daheim
William Morrow
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com
ISBN 0380978695; $23.95
Writers are often told, "Write what you know." Apparently, Mary Daheim really took it to heart. Not only does she base many of the characters in her books on family members (who don't seem to mind), her mysteries are all set in Washington, her home state, with the Emma Lord series set in Alpine (the Washington mill town Daheim's family lived in before she was born) and the Bed-and-Breakfast series, starring owner/operator Judith Flynn and her cousin Renie, set in Daheim's hometown of Seattle.
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Seattle isn't just Daheim's hometown, either; she still lives in Seattle, and its scenery, its weather, its way of life permeate each of her mysteries. Check out the following paragraphs (both taken from This Old Souse, her latest B&B title) and see what I mean:
"Just three days away from the start of summer, the spring shrubs, trees, and bulbs had faded away. The grass was green, the leaves were glossy, and some of the roses were in full bloom. But the sky was overcast, the temperature lingered in the midfifties, and there was a 40 percent chance of rain. It was, Judith knew, a typical June day in the Pacific Northwest. [pg. 2]"
"The sun, which had sneaked a peek at the city earlier in the morning, had now gone behind dark clouds. Renie, however, kept her sunglasses on. Not only did she have a chronic eye problem, she was a typical Northwest resident who insisted she was so unused to the sun that its irregular appearances bothered her eyes. Judith never argued [with her]. They lived in a city that bought more sunglasses per capita than any other place in the United States. Renie referred to the locals--especially the natives--as Mole People. [pg. 89]"
See? Pure Seattle!
In This Old Souse, Daheim's twentieth B&B book, Judith and Renie have their hands full with husbands (ex-cop Joe and retired psychologist and consultant Bill), cantankerous elderly moms (Gertrude and Deborah), the B&B's religious zealot maid (Phyliss) and psychotic cat, demanding careers, and goings-on at their church, Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Despite it all, though, they seem to have time to get into lots of trouble. This time, at least, it's Renie's fault.
Ever since she lived in the neighborhood as a child, Renie's been obsessed with the family that lived in the rundown (and apparently deserted) manse on nearby Moonfleet Street. Who lives there? Why does no one ever seem to come in or out? What's with the kids' toys in the front yard, the regular food orders that don't look big enough to feed a whole family, and the annual package delivered UPS from Austria? Knowing Judith is temporarily at loose ends with Joe out of town for a few days, Renie talks her cousin into snooping around behind the scenes.
When Judith agrees, she discovers a dead body in her car's trunk. It's not the first body she's found, either. In fact, she has such a reputation with Joe's former colleagues that when she calls 9-1-1 to report a dead body, the dispatcher sighs and says, "Is that you, Mrs. Flynn?" This time, though, she knows the identity of the victim, and the responding officers not only don't know her or Joe--they think she is the killer! And when it becomes obvious that the Blands (who own the house) can't or won't help and the cops aren't inclined to look any further for the real killer, it's up to Judith and Renie to figure out who really did it. Now, the question is, can they do it before one of them becomes the next victim?
I really enjoy Daheim's B&B books, which combine two of my loves: mysteries and B&B's. True, This Old Souse was a bit sparse on scenes in Hillside Manor itself, but it made up for it with a lot of Seattle atmosphere. I'd love to go to Seattle in person some day, but despite standing invitations from friends who live there, I haven't been able to afford it yet. Until then, my visits will take place between the covers of a book, and Daheim's fill the bill nicely.
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COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
