Book 20, 2022

[chez_jae]

Getaway With Murder by Diane Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Last night, I powered through the rest of Getaway With Murder, which is the first book in author Diane Kelly's "Mountain Lodge" cozy mystery series. The story is told primarily in first person pov by the main character, Misty Murphy. A few short chapters are told in third purrson pov by Misty's cat, Yeti. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for that, but I did find it amusing.

Turning 50 brings about several major changes for Misty. She and her husband come to an amenable divorce, and she invests her settlement in an old lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Misty loved visiting there, and she wants to restore the lodge to its former glory. She's fortunate to come across handyman Rocky Crowder, who does the necessary renovations for a reasonable price and then offers to stay on for maintenance in exchange for room and board and the ability to work at his paying gig. Better yet, Misty manages to fill the 20-room lodge with a group on a yoga retreat. Things are going well until the yoga instructor is found dead just outside the lodge. Unwilling to see the reputation of her lodge tarnished, Misty helps with the investigation as much as she's able. She also does some minor sleuthing of her own, aided by Rocky. Will they be able to solve the murder, or will Misty's dreams for her future turn into a nightmare?

The story was enjoyable, if not remarkable. I appreciated that Misty was a more mature character, and that her investigation was subtle and comprised mainly of her trying to mentally puzzle things out and put clues together. She didn't ask indelicate questions or outright accuse anyone of killing Sasha. The budding romance between her and Rocky was sweet, in part because it's very slow building. There were many potential suspects, but I'm pleased that I figured it out long before Misty did.

A couple things niggled at me:
- Before Sasha's carcass was even carted away, the police officer in charge was already treating it as a murder investigation. Sasha had no obvious injuries, so one would think cause of death would need to be determined first.
- How did a reporter in Charlotte, NC find out about Sasha's death? He called the lodge within hours.

Favorite lines:
♥ I found myself again realizing that growing older had its benefits, a big one being that you no longer worried so much about other people's opinions. It was freeing.
♥ What if the killer had gone after Kendall, too? What if she was lying dead somewhere in a ditch? And why, when we worry that someone has died, do we always assume they end up in a ditch?

I'm giving this a score of four, but I'm still going to put it to my "Cozy Mystery Trope Test":


1. Does the mc work at/as one of the following: baker/bakery/sweet shop/tea shop/coffee shop, library/librarian, antique/vintage shop, book store, fashion/boutique, bed & breakfast? Yes, although the lodge isn't technically a B&B, it's small, and Misty does offer breakfast.
2. Does the mc live at her (or his) place of occupation? Yes, she does
3. Is the love interest involved in law enforcement? (Police officer, sheriff, detective, PI, FBI) No! Woo hoo!
4. Does the mc have a dog/cat as a pet? Yes, she has a cat.
5. Is the mc's BFF either a gay guy or a ditzy/zany woman? Hard to say. Misty is becoming friends with both Patty (the mundane owner of the diner) and Brynn (the somewhat zany Wiccan housekeeper).
6. Did the mc find the body? No, she did not.
7. Did the mc wind up in mortal danger at the end of the book? No, praise Buddha!
8. Is the mc's mother either: dead, absent, far removed, ditzy and dithering, or overbearing/disapproving/meddling? Yes
9. If mother is dead/absent, does the mc have another mother-figure (grandmother, aunt, mom's friend, or an older friend)? No
10. Is the mc child-free? (Either no children or else grown children--i.e. no small children to look after) Yes, her children are grown.

Good thing I wasn't basing the score on this! That's pretty even.