Review: A Case of Bier by Mary Daheim

Kerry Hammond is here to tell us about the latest book in a very long running Bed-And-Breakfast mystery series by Mary Daheim.

A Case of Bier by Mary Daheim is the 31^st book in the Bed-And-Breakfast mystery series featuring Seattle innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn and her prickly cousin Renie. It was released on February 12, in Hardcover, by William Morrow. Daheim is also the author of the Emma Lord Alpine mystery series, which contains 26 titles. She is a prolific author whose first novels were historical romances; she broke into the mystery genre in 1991.

In A Case of Bier, Judith and Renie, with husbands in tow, have gone on vacation to Banff, Alberta, Canada. It’s a location they visited as children and have looked forward to revisiting memories of the time they spent. The husbands go off on a fishing trip and Judith and Rennie explore the town. Never too far from trouble, they immediately come across a strange family with an even stranger story.

The Stokes family is camped out in the woods near the motel where Judith and Renie are staying. They are there with an aging relative who has requested that his body be placed on a bier and floated down the river once he passes on. Apparently not everyone can wait for nature to take its course and poor old Codger Stokes is murdered. The problem is, the body and the bier go missing, leaving the police—and Judith—wondering just what is going on.

This is my second book in the Bed-And-Breakfast series and I joined very late in the game (at book 30). Daheim’s characters are very quirky and Renie is just downright ornery. There is a lot of humor in the stories and the ladies have a little bit of a Lucy and Ethel relationship, especially the trouble they get themselves into. These are whacky, lighthearted mysteries and quite a bit of fun. I didn’t solve Codger’s murder, but I enjoyed trying.

This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the publisher. The review was fair and completely independent.

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