Nutty As a Fruitcake (Bed-and-Breakfast Mysteries)

Mary Daheim's Bed & Breakfast series is definitely one of the best amateur sleuth series written. The Hillside Manor Bed & Breakfast is definitely thriving w/ action, adventure, mayhem, merriment & ...murder. Yep, there seems to be bodies scattered all about the Pacific Northwest. Just be prepared when you check in. Judith McMonigle Flynn is too much...fun. She's absolutely exhilarating! Her cousin Renie is bubbling over w/ exuberance. The two together is the perfect definition of the term "madcap hijinks". Nutty as a Fruitcake is a side-splitting experience. I laughed so hard I just couldn't control my fits of laughter. I tend to make sure I'm not alone reading this delightful cozies in public. One may think I'm balmy for roaring the way I do. Nutty as a Fruitcake is the 10th Bed & Breakfast mystery. The creative Mary Daheim pulls no punches w/ the characters, plot & mystery. Kudos to Daheim for keeping the series fresh w/o recycling previous storylines! Nutty as a Fruitcake is a must read for cozy mystery lovers because it's a truly delightful experience. Wickedly delicious! Judith's mother Gertrude is unquestionably a remarkable standout! Long-time readers of the series will absolutely adore Nutty as a Fruitcake & new readers will no doubt want to pick up the earlier books in this whimsical series!!!

It's Christmas time, and Judith Flynn has decided that she and the neighbors on her cul-de-sac should celebrate by decorating their houses. Eveyone thinks it's a great idea except for the crabby Enid Goodrich who seems to be lacking in Christmas spirit. She has been a detriment to the neighborhood for some time and it's hard to find genuine sympathy among her neighbors when she is killed with a hatchet just before Christmas. Of course this means that there are lots of suspects because Enid has offended almost everyone she has come in contact with. This includes her rather unsavory relatives who dislike her as much as everyone else. Judith and her cousin, Renie, do their usual sleuthing job and Judith finally comes up with the identity of the killer. This is enjoyable reading for fans of this genre.

This is one book in a series of bed-and-breakfast mysteries set in Seattle, Washington. Anyone familiar with the city can tell that the author, Mary Daheim, has changed the place names, but retained the feel of the city in accurate descriptions. Heraldsgate Hill is really Queen Anne Hill. Norway General Hospital is really Swedish Hospital. Papaya Pete's restaurant is really Trader Vics. Donner and Blitzen department store is really the now defunct Frederick and Nelsons. Nordquist is Nordstroms. The Belle Epoch is The Bon Marche, now known just as The Bon. Moonbeams coffee house is really Starbucks, and so on. The descriptions are so accurately and fondly drawn that the reader experiences a warm sense of being there, especially if one has actually lived in Seattle at one time. The relationships of the characters are sometimes feisty but honest and often very funny. I recommend this whole series.