The Alpine Recluse: An Emma Lord Mystery

(Paperback)

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For many mystery readers, Alpine, WashingtonMary Daheims fictional small town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountainshas become a beloved second home, a delicious retreat from the stresses of life. Yet the editor of The Alpine Advocate, Emma Lord, knows all too well that the picturesque old logging town is loaded with scandal: family feuds, illicit romance, chicanery, and sometimes deadly violence.

THE ALPINE RECLUSE

In the middle of a hot midsummer night, Emma is awakened by fire trucks rushing to a blaze at the nearby home of newlyweds Tim and Tiffany Rafferty. At daybreak, Tiffany and her unborn child are safe, but Tim, never blessed with good luck in all his thirty-plus years, has perished in the fierce conflagration. Sheriff Milo Dodge suspects murder and arson, and rumors fly from the Burger Barn and Mugs Ahoy to the Grocery Basket and the Venison Inn. Some swear the Rafferty marriage was crumbling. Others hint at stock fraud. A few mention momentary sightings of a possibly mad recluse known as Old Nick.

Sacrificing the heady enticements of a budding romance to nail down a great story, Emma shifts into high investigative gear while her fearless House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, rushes in where angels fear to tread: straight into the private lives of some of Alpines most respectableand now terminally edgycitizens. But neither Emma nor Vida suspects the unbelievable truth.

Reviews

Praise for Mary Daheim and her Emma Lord mysteries

If you like the Cat Who mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun, youll find similar fun here.
San Antonio Express-News

Mary Daheim writes with wit, wisdom, and a big heart. I love her books.
Carolyn Hart

Recommended . . . If you like cozy mysteries, you need to try Daheims Alpine series.
The Snooper

Daheim writes . . . with dry wit, a butter-smooth style, and obvious wicked enjoyment.
The Oregonian

The characters are great, and the plots always attention-getting.
King Features Syndicate

Witty one-liners and amusing characterizations.
Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Mary Richardson Daheimstarted spinning stories before she could spell. Daheim has been a journalist, an editor, a public relations consultant, and a freelance writer, but fiction was always her medium of choice. In 1982, she launched a career that is now distinguished by more than sixty novels. In 2000, she won the Literary Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. In October 2008, she was inducted into the University of Washingtons Communication Alumni Hall of Fame. Daheim lives in her hometown of Seattle and is a direct descendant of former residents of the real Alpine, which existed as a logging town from 1910 to 1929, when it was abandoned after the mill was closed. The Alpine/Emma Lord series has created interest in the site, which was named a Washington State ghost town in July 2011. An organization called the Alpine Advocates has been formed to preserve what remains of the town as a historic site.