Bitter Alpine

Emma Lord Mystery

By: Mary Daheim

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

After a relatively calm and cozy holiday season, neither Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, nor her husband, Sheriff Milo Dodge, are surprised when their new year gets off to a rocky start. A woman’s body has been found in a squalid motel. Her driver’s license shows that Dawn Purvis was in her late 30s and lived in Weaverville, California - and the only connection between that town and Alpine is their gold-mining and logging origins. When they discover that Dawn’s room reservation was open-ended, Emma, Milo, and the ever-inquisitive Advocate receptionist, Alison Lindahl, are more than mildly curious. And never mind that the youthful Alison is a bit distracted by the new county extension agent’s virile good looks. She can still sleuth while she stalks her newest crush.

But that’s not all the news that’s unfit to print. There’s something strange about the older couple who have moved into the cabin down the road that was once owned by a murder victim. The elderly wife seems anti-social. There’s got to be a reason, which Emma, Milo, and Alison intend to find out - even if it puts them in deadly danger.

©2020 Mary Daheim (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Best to read books in order

This is the first in the Alpine/Emma Lord books I've read. That was a big mistake! In order to enjoy this book I think you need all the past history and relationships from the many previous books. The author tries to catch the reader up but it seems too much to take in.

Fun and heartwarming!

Awesome in every way, except that the narrator does not correctly pronounce many of the Pacific NW names....Gonzaga isn't that hard to say!!

Anoher great book about the residents of Alpine.

The story and characters are neither silly norself involved like so many cozy mysteries. Emma does not think she is smarter than the police and her husband but just an inquisittive journalistic. Very realistic friends and neighbors. Always anxious to read her books because I feel I am catching up with old friends. Just sorry she only writes one a year. I started reading with her first book A is for Alpine and Ms. Daheim has never failed to tell a good story. May she live long and well.

Emma doesn't seem to like nurses...

I really wanted to like this series.. but... for one thing, there is a little too much cutesy banter back and forth between Emma and Milo. I got tired of hearing, "You little twirp," over and over again.

Also, I'm a nurse, and I listen to cozy mysteries as an escape... but Emma really seems to hate nurses for no reason. I could see if it was relevant to the story... but... she makes weird, condescending remarks about nurses over and over again, and I just don't even see what it adds to the story?? She hates this nurse and that nurse and she says one is her second most hated nurse. I could put my own feelings aside if it added something to the book. But it doesn't, in my opinion. Sorry, but I'll be moving on and trying a different series.
I do like the narrator's voice.

Alpine Disappointment

I have followed Mary Daheim’s Alpine series all the way through the alphabet and then some. I have recommended her books to many other readers. But this book will put a stop to it. The vast majority of it involved the main characters reminiscing about the history of various townspeople, very little of which was relevant to the plot. Emma has gone from being an independent, strong-willed woman to a weak housewife, who can’t even drive herself to work. She focused more on cooking for Milo then on solving the murder. She did very little investigating herself, in fear of offending her employee. At the end, no one solved anything - the murderess confessed out of nowhere. The subplots fizzled out quietly in the end, and I was left thinking there must be something else about to happen, but the book just ended. Did Ms. Daheim get tired of writing?