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Alpine, Washington. A small and isolated mountain town. During a barroom brawl in a loggers' tavern, a man is killed presumably by a blow from a pool cue. Clive Berentsen, a local trucker, is arrested and jailed after confessing to the murder. The case is considered a slam dunk and the cops move on to other things while awaiting a conviction. Emma Lord is the owner of the local weekly newspaper. Intent on making sure she gets her facts straight before the next edition, she proceeds, with the help of her colorful employees, to collect long and conflicting statements from those present at the crime scene. She ends up with a variety of stories that are quite confusing to her – and to the readers – enough to get her to finally doubt Clive's confession. As is often the case with cozy series, this mystery is mostly about the characters, both new and recurring. The plot is very thin and diluted and serves more as a pretext for the book than the core of it. The too numerous characters are often cutesy and stereotyped: Emma doesn't know how to use a comb or bother about her appearance; Vida the nosy village gossip wears extravagant hats, etc. In fact, we learn more about the cast and their web of family and friends than about the murder and the police work. In short, it is a story with a crime at the beginning, its solution at the end, and endless gossip about affairs, weddings, remarriages, in between. I suspect the readers attracted to the series are like those who love Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who series, because it provides a chance to revisit people and setting they are comfortable with. For cozy lovers who are new to Alpine, you might want to go back to the beginning instead of starting with such a late entry. Non-cozy readers might want to avoid this series altogether.
Reviewed by Nicole Leclerc, August 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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