Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Wurst Is Yet To Come-Mary Daheim

The Wurst Is Yet To Come


Mary Daheim

Morrow, Jul 3 2012, $23.99

ISBN: 9780062089830



In return for not yanking Judith McMonigle Flynn’s innkeeper license to operate her Hillside Manor Bed-and-Breakfast, she (and her cohort in trouble cousin Renie) promises to go to Little Bavaria to man the B&B booth at the Oktoberfest. At the opening ceremony, Victor Dietrich Wessler is killed with a knife left besides his bloodied body. Locals believe Dietrich saved their town when he changed it into an authentic Bavarian village after the mining and lumber industries closed.



The village police chief more Bavarian Barney Fife than Andy Taylor know of Judith’s sleuthing reputation for tripping over corpses; he pleads with her to assist him with the inquiry. She agrees though concerned how the innkeeper board will react. While she looks into the murder of the beloved nonagenarian, they also ask her to investigate the murder of lawyer Bob Stafford whose corpse was found in the river though he died from a trauma to the head. The Pacific Northwest cousins begin to piece together the puzzles only the culprit plans to eliminate the nosy Americans.



The latest Bed and Breakfast Mystery (see All The Pretty Hearses) retains the jocular freshness expected of this long running series because of the Bavarian locale and the clever idea of switching cousins (think of the Patty Duke TV show) as Renie pretends to be the sleuth to protect the innkeeper license. The energizing sexagenarians make for a fun tale as they cause havoc in the Bavarian countryside enabling armchair readers to believe they are in Europe on a visit while Judith realizes her biggest mistake was to assume Renie as her front would not lead to trouble.



Harriet Klausner

No comments: