The Alpine Vengeance

February 7, 2011
Set in 2004, Daheim's meandering 22nd Emma Lord mystery (after 2009's The Alpine Uproar) finds the editor/publisher of The Alpine Advocate in Alpine, Wash., revisiting an old crime to solve some new ones, including maple tree poaching and the shooting of an old friend, eccentric and reclusive artist Craig Laurentis. Meanwhile, Sheriff Milo Dodge, Emma's crusty current lover, has been receiving anonymous letters suggesting the innocence of Larry Petersen, convicted 10 years earlier of killing his sister, Laura, over control of the local bank, a case recorded in 1995's The Alpine Fury. Larry dies of heart failure while in prison, but the disturbing letters continue. Emma wonders if any of Larry's family members, including his ditzy daughter, Denise, an Advocate employee, can help exonerate him. While the investigation drags in places, the unexpected conclusion is sure to please series fans.

January 15, 2011

Why would a man confess to a murder if he didn't commit it?

Larry Peterson dies of a heart attack after spending 10 years in prison for strangling his sister Linda, apparently jealous that she was to be named the next bank president when their dad died. But just as Larry shuffles off this mortal coil, Sheriff Milo Dodge receives anonymous letters threatening mayhem unless he proves that Larry didn't do it. Then Emma Lord, publisher of the Alpine Advocate (The Alpine Uproar, 2009, etc.) is sent a similar letter. Retracing the original story with input from Vida Runkel, the House & Home editor who knows everybody in town going back several generations, Emma keeps circling around the attack on reclusive artist Craig Laurentis, hospitalized after being shot in the woods, perhaps by maple-tree poachers (don't ask). If his most recent painting, a dour departure from his former style, holds a clue, Emma can't fathom it. Besides, she must deal with Denise, Larry's dimwitted daughter, who's currently temping at the Advocate, where she wants to bring her ex's dog to work; Denise's brothers, in town for their dad's funeral and their mother's unexpected suicide; and a ghastly hostage takeover that endangers Milo and his daughter. By the time facts, fallacies and half-truths have been sorted out, there will be two dead, two wounded and a bail-jumping poacher with an unspeakable secret.

Daheim's series—like Alpine, the kind of town that considers you a newcomer if you've only lived there 10 years—bustles with small-town charm and convoluted family relationships.

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