Margins
Holidays in Ocean Alley book cover
Holidays in Ocean Alley
2015
First Published
4.18
Average Rating
239
Number of Pages

Part of Series

Opening your apartment door to see a woman sliding down it is distressing. Especially when that woman has a knife in her chest. How could a murderer be roaming the halls in the middle of the night? After all the times she has encouraged Jolie to mind her own business, Aunt Madge has had a change of heart. It's Jolie's boyfriend Scoobie Madge turns to to help her figure out who the murderer is. Not that being temporarily in an assisted living apartment prevents Aunt Madge from investigating herself. No, a fall from a stool that results in a broken wrist and ankle can't hold down the owner of the Cozy Corner B&B. Could the murderer be a resident with a grudge, or a philandering neighbor who didn't want to get caught in someone else's bed? Aunt Madge's scooter rides take her to the laundry room where she thinks she spots a body in a bin, and into the cold to check exit doors to be sure they can't be entries for murder. All she gets is a reputation for being nosy. It's hard not to be when a dead woman's blood is on your carpet. Murder's not all Madge and friends juggle. What will happen to the Alzheimer's patient whose husband wants to keep her in their apartment? Will Scoobie find information about Melvin, his ornery former professor, that will explain his odd behavior? And how will Madge and her good friend Lance avoid the acid-tongued Elmira Washington, who has decided she wants an apartment in their building? Elmira has been a thorn in Jolie's side for years. Would she be willing to kill to eliminate a roadblock to her move? For a change, it's Madge whose persistence annoys Sergeant Morehouse of the Ocean Alley Police. He tells her she is moving up on his pain-in-the-ass list. Certainly the director of the Silver Times senior complex wants Aunt Madge to get well enough to leave. And she does miss her exuberant retrievers and husband Harry. He's busy burning muffins at the B&B instead of helping Jolie with the appraisal business. Good humor at the Jersey shore. Except for the poor dead woman. Add the Christmas and Hanukkah season and there's good fun mixed with the murder.

Avg Rating
4.18
Number of Ratings
91
5 STARS
45%
4 STARS
33%
3 STARS
18%
2 STARS
3%
1 STARS
1%
goodreads

Author

Elaine Orr
Elaine Orr
Author · 22 books

Also published as Elaine L. Orr Elaine L. Orr has authored 30 works of fiction, including four mystery series. They include the thirteen-book Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series, which is set at the Jersey shore. "Behind the Walls" was short-listed for the 2014 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem Awards. "Demise of a Devious Neighbor," second of the River's Edge series, set in Iowa, was a Chanticleer shortlister in 2017. The Western Maryland mountains host the four-book Family History Mystery Series, which began with "Least Trodden Ground." The "Unscheduled Murder Trip" received a B.R.A.G. Medallion in 2021. Small-town Illinois is the setting for the Logland Series, which features Police Chief Elizabeth Friedman—a police procedural with a cozy feel. Elaine also writes plays and novellas, including the one-act, "Common Ground," published in 2015. Her novella, "Biding Time," was one of five finalists in the National Press Club's first fiction contest, in 1993. "Falling into Place" is a novella about family strength as a World War II veteran rises to the toughest occasion. "In the Shadow of Light" is the fictional story of Corozón and her family, who are separated at the U.S./Mexico border. A member of Sisters in Crime, Elaine grew up in Maryland and moved to the Midwest in 1994.

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