Snow Place for Murder is book 3 in Diane Kelly’s Mountain Lodge Mystery series, and it is a series that I love. In Beech Mountain, NC lodge owner Misty Murphy is wondering if she should regret allowing Nigel Goodwin to use her lodge to promote his new resort to investors. Along with a couple of rude guests, there is also a group of local business owners and residents who descend on the lodge to voice their complaints against Nigel and his resort. When things get out of hand, Misty calls the police. The next day Misty’s two college -age sons are working at the lodge during their winter holiday and are sledding on the nearby snow pile when they discover an interesting rock. Taking it to their mother, Misty is horrified at what her boys have found. Rocky and Misty rush outside and discover Nigel frozen solid body. Why and how did Nigel die? And who would have done such a thing?
I love this series for so many reasons. One is the descriptions of the mountains and the weather. One paragraph is written as peaceful, but another could make the mountains out as sinister. It's a double-edged sword, but a healthy reminder about reality in those conditions. Another reason is because the author inserts random chapters told from the pet companion’s POV. In this case, it is Baroness Blizzard, a.k.a. Yeti, Misty’s cat. I enjoy the levity Yeti’s chapters bring to the page, but also the fact that animals notice things that humans might not.
Finally, there is Misty herself. I am notoriously known for having pet peeves regarding cozy mysteries. However, Diane Kelly doesn’t touch any of those pet peeves in this series. There is no police officer who automatically dislikes Misty. Instead, they sometimes actively ask her for help and encourage her ideas. There is no love triangle. Instead, Misty and Rocky are very down to earth about their romance. It's also not a distracting point to the story. The last pet peeve is Misty does not put herself in danger. I cannot stand when main characters state they don’t want anyone to get hurt but then do something stupid. Misty does not do that. She always communicates with Rocky, Deputy Hardy, or Deputy Yona Highcloud.
I knew about two-thirds of the way who the killer was, and why. I was a little surprised that Deputy Highcloud didn’t make the suggestion, but there were quite a few more obvious suspects. Though I knew, it didn’t take away from the novel for me. I enjoyed reading as Misty untangled all of the other threads as well.
Overall, I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.
Comments
Post a Comment