Hotel South Dakota

I can tell I really like a book when I don't want to put it down at night, when I almost miss my train stop because I am too engrossed and when my husband talks to me and I don't hear him because I am reading. All of her books do that for me. They are AWESOME!

Somewhat reminiscent of the Hamish MacBeth series of M.C.Beaton, these stories are local, relaxing, and likeable. An easy read, without complexities with no need to suspend disbelief by an educated reader.

In Delphi, SD, nobody's drop-dead beautiful. Nobody (except the librarian) is wealthy. And nobody's perfect. But you'll love them all. The mystery's a winner, too.

This is the third in a series of Tory Bauer Mysteries. Tory Bauer is a forty-somthing, widowed waitress who inadvertently and against her will stumbles on to mysteries. It is very funny and interesting how the story from the past and the present intertwine. I loved it and had a blast reading it.

THE HOTEL SOUTH DAKOTA Kathleen Taylor Avon, Mar 1997, $5.99, 304 pp. ISBN 0-380-78356-8 The South Dakota town of Delphi is going all out for the festivities surrounding its seventy-fifth anniversary Football Homecoming parade/game and the All School Reunion that would follow. Even waitress Tory Bover, who couldn't care about sports, is caught up in the enthusiasm. Tory is excited because Janelle Ross, known to the rest of the world as J. Ross Nelson, Hollywood actress and tabloid star is returning to her hometown for the first time in twenty five years. She left unexpectedly after a friend of hers drowned in the Jim River and was never seen anywhere near-south Dakota again. Just like twenty five years ago the old timers have a second after football party at the Jim River, and just like the first one, somebody else dies. This time it is the obnoxious bullying football coach Doug Fischbach. Doug had played a key drama in the first party as well since he ran off with Janelle only to return (sans Janelle) three days later, smirking and smug. Now Janelle is missing and the whole town is in an uproar trying to piece together what happened. Tony, who thinks there is a connection between the two deaths even though they occurred twenty-five years apart, is determined to discover the link in order to get at the truth, no matter who gets hurt, even herself. Readers who found SEX AND SALMONELLA entertaining, witty and exciting will be even more enthralled with the HOTEL SOUTH DAKOTA, the latest Tory Bover mystery. The denizens of Delphi are a fascinating and eccentric lot with more layers than an onion, but they are so down home that readers will find themselves wishing they lived in a town exactly like that one. It is the heroine, an overweight middle aged widow who has more spunk, personality, and courage than she knows what to do with, who captures attention and hearts. A terrific read by a very talented and multidimensional author. Harriet Klausner