Book Review: Loco Motive - A Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery

Loco Motive: A Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery

By: Mary Daheim

Published By: Harper Collins
Release Date: April 2011
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Source: Copy Provided by Publisher
Audience: Adult

This is book 25 in a series and I had not read the rest of the series, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I dove in and quickly discovered it was not necessary to have read all of the previous books to fall into the world of Judith McGonigle Flynn. Daheim, provides enough background information as you work your way through the story that I felt I understood most of the back story.

That being said, I truly enjoyed the book. The mystery and action begin as soon as you open the book. As a reader, I enjoyed this approach. There wasn’t a lot of “stuff”, for lack of a better word, to wade through before being hooked. I found Judith, the owner of the B&B, to be a funny, sarcastic, curious woman. She and her cousin, Renie, don’t go looking for trouble. It seems to find them. I enjoyed their bantering and the way they worked together. I have to admit, they reminded me of my mother and her best friend, so I was picturing them as I read.

All they want is a peaceful train ride to Boston from their home in Seattle. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so. And they should have known things were going to go badly based on the series of events leading up to their trip. Between family showing up unexpectedly, stodgy neighbors calling in the overnight chit at the B&B they won in an auction, a guest taking a daring dive off of the roof, guests showing up in the middle of the night and leaving no trace that they existed at all, and almost missing their train, they should have seen it coming. Well, maybe, but you can’t predict that someone will go missing and a body will turn up on that very train. Except, according to Renie, these events tend to follow Judith around.

They are not professional sleuths, but they solve their cases. They have no formal training, except Judith’s husband is a retired detective and clearly, she has been paying attention. Watching her work through the mystery is entertaining. She uses common sense and her sense of justice to solve it and find the culprit.

Synopsis from Barnes & Noble:

From USA Today bestselling author Mary Daheim comes her latest Bed-and-Breakfast book featuring innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn and her irrepressible cousin Renie in a mystery that takes them on the wrong side of the tracks. . . . Loco Motive

It's autumn at Hillside Manor B&B, and with the changing leaves come some unexpected guests. There's Judith's son and daughter-in-law, with their two children in tow, a couple with an impossible (and unbelievable?) last name who show up from nowhere, and a pair of giggly young women who don't seem to know where they're going.

As Halloween draws nigh, Judith can barely cope with her gala of guests, but at least the worst guest from the first part of the week checks out—almost permanently. Wee Willie Weevil, infamous daredevil and martial-arts movie icon, insisted on performing his dangerous stunts from Judith's roof and left the B&B via an ambulance.

Hoping to escape the domestic mayhem, Judith agrees to accompany Renie on a cross-country train trip to Boston with first-class accommodations on the Empire Builder. Judith's bubble bursts when she discovers that Wee Willie and his entourage are fellow travelers. Although confined to a wheelchair, the diminutive stunt man seems capable of derailing the cousins' vacation.

Cousin Renie does her best to ease Judith's mind until the train collides with a truckload of sugar beets. Forced to wait for a new engine in a small Montana town in the middle of nowhere, the passengers can do nothing but watch and wait. Even before the train can get back on track, the cousins discover that their sleeper attendant has gone missing. Worse yet, another passenger's final destination is the nearest morgue.

Judith and Renie have to move full speed ahead if they want to blow the whistle on the killer before death strikes again. Can the train continue its journey? Will the cousins ever get to Boston? Stay aboard!