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Snow Place for Murder by Diane Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Since I have the day off, I finished reading Snow Place for Murder this morning. It’s the third “Mountain Lodge” mystery by author Diane Kelly. The main character is Misty Murphy, owner/operator of the Mountain Lodge in North Carolina.

Nigel Goodwin, a property developer from England, has booked the Mountain Lodge for a week as he attempts to woo investors for a proposed ski resort not far from Misty’s lodge. While she’s pleased with the full booking, Misty is somewhat concerned about how a new resort may affect her business. She’s not the only one—several locals have voiced opposition as well. In the meantime, Misty’s sons have joined her at the lodge while on college break. They’re there to help their mother and get in some runs down the local ski hill. When they go sledding down a small slope in back of the lodge, the boys discover the frozen body of Nigel Goodwin. Now the pressure is on to find a killer before the guests check out of the lodge at the end of the week.

A likable story. It was set around Christmas, but the holiday wasn’t mentioned much so I didn’t feel off for reading it in February. I enjoy Misty’s brand of sleuthing, which typically amounts to doing some research online and reporting her finds to local law enforcement. She also reports anything she overhears that may have relevance. The investors were an interesting, diverse group of characters, and the familiar characters are all people you’d like to know. The plot didn’t pelt along, but it unfolded at a steady pace that made sense as it went along. There was, however, one horrific editing error:( SPOILER )

Favorite lines:
♦ “Can I get you a cup of coffee before you ruin my day?”
♦ I was straining so hard to hear their conversation it was a wonder I didn’t suffer an aneurysm.

Very good (for the most part!). Four stars.

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:( Spoilers! )

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":

( Trope Test )

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