Part of Series
Mary Daheim’s bestselling novels, set in Alpine, a picturesque village tucked away in the Cascade Mountains, have charmed a generation of mystery lovers with suspenseful tales of the peril that bubbles up from below the serene surface of small-town life. An ill wind blows through Alpine, but Advocate publisher Emma Lord and Sheriff Milo Dodge seem immune to the prevailing angst. The newlyweds’ domestic idyll is most definitely over when a dead man is discovered near the fish hatchery and nobody has a clue as to his identity. Vida Runkel may have insight, but Emma’s redoubtable House & Home editor is mad at the world and saying little. Moreover, whispers of scandal travel through the quaint streets when some high school girls mysteriously take a walk on the wild side. And then Milo’s dedicated deputy, Sam Heppner, a true yeoman, suddenly goes AWOL. What’s happening in Alpine? If Milo knows, he’s not telling Emma. And Emma’s again headed for trouble when she starts snooping. The situation grows even more fraught when a shocking link is revealed between the mystery corpse and one of Alpine’s own, unearthing a long-buried dark secret. Tongues are wagging on Front Street—and the gossip contains an air of menace.
Author
Seattle native Mary Richardson Daheim has been fascinated by story-telling since early childhood. She first listened, then read, and finally began to write her own fiction when she was ten. A journalism major at the University of Washington, she was the first female editor of The Daily where she attracted national attention with her editorial stance against bigotry. After getting her B.A., she worked in newspapers and public relations, but in her spare time she tried her hand at novels. In 1983, Daheim’s first historical romance was published, followed by a half-dozen more before she switched genres to her original fictional love, mysteries. Just Desserts and Fowl Prey, the first books of thirty in the Bed-and-Breakfast series were released in 1991. A year later, the Emma Lord series made its debut with The Alpine Advocate. Daheim has also written several short stories for mystery anthologies and magazines. Married to professor emeritus and playwright David Daheim, the couple lives in Seattle and has three grown daughters. She has been an Agatha Award nominee, winner of the 2000 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Achievement Award, and her mysteries regularly make the USA Today bestseller list and the New York Times top thirty.
