Wed and Buried (Bed-and-Breakfast Series #12) »

Mary Richardson Daheim is a Seattle native with a degree in communications from the University of Washington. Realizing at an early age that getting published in books with real covers might elude her for years, she worked on daily newspapers and in public relations to help avoid her creditors. She lives in her hometown in a century­-old house not unlike Hillside Manor, except for the body count. Daheim is also the author of the Alpine mystery series and the mother of three daughters.

UNHOLY MATRIMONY

Ask not for whom the wedding bell tolls, it tolls for Judith McMonigle Flynn's son Mike—and the Hillside Manor b&b is packed to the rafters with relatives. However, Mama Judith's unrestrained joy is somewhat dampened when, during the rehearsal dinner downtown, she spies a tuxedo-clad gent tossing a bridal-gowned beauty off the roof of a nearby hotel. Always one to eagerly exclaim "I do!" when offered the opportunity to investigate nefarious deeds, Judith's determination to unveil a killer could put undo stress on her own marital bliss with policeman-hubby Joe. But she remains wedded to her mission—and she's not about to take a honeymoon from amateur sleuthing until she's gotten to the bottom of the homicidal hanky-panky surrounding a match made in hell.

Publishers Weekly

The prolific Daheim's latest bed and breakfast mystery, finds b&b proprietor Judith Flynn hosting a horde of new in-laws for her son's wedding. But as luck would have it, Judith believes she's seen a murder outside the hotel reception site. Judith, who treats her b&b like a hobby, takes a more proprietary interest in the investigation and annoys the investigator in charge, her husband, homicide detective Joe Flynn. Luckily clues contrive to drop into Judith's lap because, generally speaking, she doesn't seem competent enough to find them herself. She ignores dark clouds in her own family while she chases after hunches with a cousin whowith five children, a husband and a jobone presumes would have other things to do. All in all, neither the characters nor the construction of the plot seems believable or coherent. (Feb.)