Dune to Death is book four in Mary Daheim's Bed and Breakfast mystery series. Judith Grover McMonigle finally marries Homicide Detective Joseph Flynn. The wedding is described in a couple of pages in the first chapter, after an amusing opening. Judith and Joe are honeymooning in a cottage called 'Pirate's Lair' by fictional Buccaneer Beach on the coast of Oregon. Judith's grouchy mother, Gertrude Grover, has moved into her sister-in-law, Deborah Grover's, apartment. Part of the comedy in this book is phone calls with the ladies. That's one subplot. Another is the disappearance of Sweetums, Judith & Gertie's poorly-named cat.

The honeymoon does not go as planned, with Joe landing in the local hospital after an accident. (Poor Joe is so out of it when Judith first visits him that he imagines she is his alcoholic ex-wife and shouts embarrassing things at her.) Judith talks her cousin Renie into coming and staying with her.

Of course there's a murder and the cousins find the body. The local law enforcement, headed by Police Chief Neil Clooney and Sheriff Josh Eldritch, are not cooperating with each other. Judith is also dealing with Alice Hoke, her son Augie and his wife Amy, and Alice's daughter Larissa and her husband Donn Bobb Lima, and Alice's sister Leona Ogilvie, a former missionary. There will be other characters and events to vex her, of course. (You try investigating a murder while the town is holding a treasure hunt on the beach below your rental cottage!)

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. Joe is 52.

b. Father Francis Xavier Hoyle officiated at the wedding. Relatives present who were named: Judith's mother, Gertrude Grover, Aunt Deborah Grover, Auntie Vance [Vanessa] & Uncle Vince, Uncle Al, Uncle Corky, Aunt Ellen & Uncle Win, and Cousin Marty; on Joe's side: diplomat brother Paul from London, Andrew the oil rig engineer from Houston, and the eldest Flynn, Tom the soldier of fortune [claims to be in from Burundi]. Neighbors present who were named: the youngest Dooley baby, and the Rankers' grandchildren [so probably the Dooleys and the Rankers].

c. Renie's Uncle Fred, mentioned in chapter 10 of book three, was not allowed to attend. Who he thinks he is at the moment influenced his wedding gift.

d. LOVED what Auntie Vance did to prevent Gertrude from objecting at the wedding.

e. See book three, Holy Terrors, for the mystery involving Our Lady, Star of the Sea Catholic Church.

f. We learn about a misadventure Joe and Judith had 25 years ago when they were sort of drunk.

g. Joe recites from the local tourist brochure. Their Fourth of July Freebooters' Festival is mentioned.

h. Renie's father, Cliff Grover, the merchant seaman, used to come home with a growth of beard and a new jade figurine.

i. Read about Joe's accident, which has landed him in the Buccaneer Beach Community Hospital for five days.

Chapter 2:

a. We hear about how having Gertrude live with Aunt Deb is going.

b. Mrs. Hoke shows up an insists on giving Judith her receipt. She also tells Judith about the creamery her parents built, Ogilvie's Cheese, which is no longer in business. Mrs. Hoke is vague about why.

c. Pirate's Lair cottage is between the We See Sea Resort and the Best Ever Over the Waves Motel.

d. Judith visits Joe at the hospital. This is where he mistakes her for his ex-wife.

Chapter 4:

a. We meet Neil Clooney, Pirate Beach police chief, and Josh Eldritch, Juniper County Sheriff. They don't get along.

b. Chief Clooney is dating Alice Hoke.

Chapter 5:

a. Judith's son, Mike, called from Whitefish, Montana. He'd spent Monday with his girlfriend, Kristen, and her family on their wheat farm in the hills of the Palouse.

b. Terrance O'Toole, reporter from the 'Buccaneer Beach Bugler' comes calling. (Loved Renie's response when Judith promises the eager young man to divulge their deepest horrors if he'll tell them who was murdered.

c. Judith and Renie enter the boathouse that came with the cottage rental.

d. Grandma Grover used to make all the cousins corduroy jumpers [pinafores, if you're British] every fall. When Cousin Sue said she was too old for one when she started high school, Grandma made her one with the school mascot on the back. She also made corduroy party dresses with pearl buttons from collar to hem (not flattering). We learn other things about Grandma as well.

e. We meet Titus Teacher.

f. We also meet Alice Hoke's blond daughter, Larissa, and her husband, Donn Bobb Lima. Larissa talks about her aunt Leona Ogilvie, the missionary.

Chapter 6:

a. The late Dan McMonigle used to buy lottery tickets. Judith recalls what happened the time he matched 5 of the 6 numbers.

b. We meet Alice Hoke's blond son, Augie (August) and his wife, Amy. They give some background information.

c. 'Growing like Topsy' is an expression that is mangled from a remark by Topsy in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

d. We also meet Brent Doyle, the current Hoke family lawyer.

e. The cousins get to read Terrance O'Toole's write-up of his interview regarding the murder. (Oh, dear.)

Chapter 7:

a. Joe's hospital roommate, Jake, dishes the dirt on Alice Hoke's presumed dead husband, Bernie, and Race Doyle, the bungler who ran the Ogilvie Cheese Factory into the ground.

b. Judith calls Arlene and learns what happened to the toolshed when neighbor Dooley and friends were having fun. (This will lead to something permanent in the series so far.) Also, Sweetums hasn't been seen since Sunday.

c. The three-month tour of Europe Judith and Renie took before they got married included Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Chapter 8: The call to Aunt Deb includes hearing about the woes of neighbor Mrs. Parker and her poodle, Ignatz. That's nothing compared to what Gertrude is doing to drive Deb crazy. (Also, Aunt Deb resents Renie's career because it takes time she could be spending with her mother.)
Gertrude is rude to Judith when the daughters and mothers switch the phones, of course.

Chapter 9:

a. Renie and Judith buy souvenirs, some rather tacky,.

b. Barnacle Bill is the subject of a vulgar drinking song, apparently adapted from an older song. I recognized the name from the version that was in an old "Popeye" cartoon, "Beware of Barnacle Bill". (If Olive Oyl's fickleness irritates you, look it up.) .

Chapter 10:

a. Old Jake likes Mrs. Wampole, the elderly patient in room D-208. Renie borrows her magnifying glass.

b. Renie's minor in college was history. She's an anglophile

Chapter 11:

a. It's Friday, June 30th, and the funeral for the murder victim is being held at Buccaneer Beach All Souls Are Us First Covenant Church. The pastor's eulogy includes some topics that might not be considered proper to the occasion. Donn Bobb sings 'Throw Out the Anchor, Someone's Floating Away,' which apparently isn't a real song.

b. The cousins visit the Ogilvie-Hoke Victorian home..

Chapter 12:

a. The cousins go to the Best Ever Over the Waves Motor Inn (which has 'Motel' in its name in chapter two)

b. Renie talks about a trip she once took to San Francisco. (Renie can't swim, by the way.)

c. The cousins chat with Darren Fleetwood before they visit Mrs. Wampole (Jewish) at the hospital. She gives them plenty of gossip, including the fact that Mrs. Angus Ogilvie, née Dorothy Metz, was the daughter of a country doctor. The story of the New Year's Eve incident is very interesting.

Chapter 13:

a. See Book two, Fowl Prey, for the Canadian mystery.

b. It's another phone call to their mothers. Aunt Deb chats about Mrs. Parker's poodle, Uncle Al, and I don't buy Cousin Marty's excuse for his motorcycle accident, either. We know that Gertrude is annoyed because she calls her daughter "Judith Anne".

c. It's another body and the cousins didn't discover it!

d. Uncle Corky was at the battle of Anzio in World War II.

e. Is the motor inn a motel again?

Chapter 14:

a. The treasure hunt part of the Freebooter Festival has started.

b. The cousins talk to Bart Doyle's widow.. Here Renie makes up a cousin Oswald in Portland.

Chapter 15:

a. We find out what Larissa's job is.

b. In case you were wondering if there really was a St. Ethelburga of Barking, yes. She was the first abbess of Barking Abbey in Essex, England, as well as being the sister of St. Earconwald, Bishop of London.

Chapter 17:

a. Judith did cut off Holofernes' head, but that was in HIS tent (see the Book of Judith in the Catholic Bible). The woman who suckered some poor sap into her tent didn't cut off his head, Jael drove a tent peg into it while Sisera was sleeping. (See the section on Judge Deborah in the Book of Judges.)

b. Judith's phone call with Gertrude solves another mystery.

c. Judith and Joe discuss Mike, who will be 23 in August. (Mike and Joe have the same birthday.)

It may not be the best honeymoon a mystery series couple ever had, but the mystery itself wasn't bad. I particularly enjoyed the phone conversations Renie and Judith had with their mothers. Young reporter Terrance O'Toole reminded me a little of Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen, for his eagerness and ability to be in the wrong place at the right time and vice versa.

Dog lovers: Alas, he's only mentioned in phone calls, but do enjoy the misadventures of Ignatz the poodle.

Cat lovers: Sweetums adventures are described in phone calls. He's as bad a kitty as in the earlier books. ( )

Judith and Joe finally get away for their honeymoon only to have things turned upside down.

Faced with time alone while Joe is in the hospital, Judith invites 'cos' Renie to come stay in the little beach side cottage the couple had rented. As an added attraction to the sun, surf and cozy cottage, the dead body of the landlady is found on the front room floor by the two cousins. This tantalizing items sets the cousins off on another sleuthing adventure to try and solve who-dunnit.

Along the way they meet the landlady's family: a stand-offish sister, ditzy niece and her rodeo husband, hangdog nephew and wife with the passel of kids, the strange man who appears to be living at the boathouse and an old murder that was never really solved. Assisting them is the sheriff and the chief of police who have their own bumbling turf war going between them.

This cozy and humourous read is fun, entertaining and light. I have read a number of her books and enjoyed them all. For me a Good Read. ( )

I enjoyed reading the book. Only one thing bothered me: the mention at the beginning of the book several times about the pygmies in Brazil. They are in Africa. I kept thinking this might be a clue. ( )

In this mystery, Bed-and-breakfast hostess Judith McMonigle and her new husband, Police Lieutenant Joe Flynn, are on their honeymoon at Buccaneer Beach. But during a dune buggy ride, Joe crashes the buggy, breaking his leg. Judith calls her cousin Renie who agrees to stay with her while Joe is in the hospital. Soon after Renie arrives, they find their landlady dead in their cottage, strangled to death with a kite string. Never one to pass up a mystery, Judith and Renie investigate the murder, as well as look for a buried treasure. Can they solve the mystery and find the treasure before returning home?

This is another fun "cozy" mystery by Mary Daheim. There are tons of humorous moments in this book. It's well plotted and, while I was able to figure out who the murderer was near the end of the book, there were still a few twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

I've read several of these bed and breakfast books by Mary Daheim and I enjoy them more and more. Highly recommended!

October 13, 2004 ( )