Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: Mountain Murder Mystery
AUTHOR: Benjamin Dahlbeck
PUBLISHER: DSP Publications
LENGTH: 200 Pages
BLURB:
The Severn family—Jeff and his wife Phyllis, Lynette and her new fiancé, and single Andy—has gathered at the mountain home of their grandmother, Mary Agnes Severn, to celebrate Thanksgiving and hear an announcement regarding their late grandfather’s will. With news of an escaped convict in the hills, everyone is barely settled in before a huge snowstorm strands them in the large old house with only gas lamps and lanterns to keep the darkness away.
Local sheriff Roger Dickerson arrives to check on the family and seek shelter from the storm. Sparks fly between him and Andy as long-held passions bubble just under the surface, but before they can address them, Mary Agnes’s three servants are murdered one by one. Who is the murderer? Is it the escaped murderer? Is it someone in the house? Everyone has a motive, and everyone has the means. What’s going on between Andy and Marcus the handyman? What’s going on between Phyllis and Marcus? Is there something going on between Roger and Marcus? It’s (snow)bound to be a wild week of murder, mystery, and mayhem!
REVIEW:
In all my years of reading, I can honestly say I’ve never read another story quite like this one. Kudos to the author on that fact alone.
This story has a rather large cast of characters, and well, it was like reading the script for a screenplay. While the author does a great job of describing the house, which made me think of an old sitcom, ‘Upstairs Downstairs’. The story is all tell. I can’t say whose point of view it’s told in, as I never got into the heads of any of the characters. Well not until the very end when the reader is given a tiny glimpse into Andy’s mind.
I have no idea if this is supposed to be slap stick comedy or if it just came across that way to me. Many a time I found myself laughing it things that probably should have been shocking. When the first person to be murdered walked into the room with a knife sticking out of her back, it was so comical I honestly laughed. Then as the body count mounts, dear old Mary Agnes states ‘if this keeps up we’ll run out of glasses’. Come on, two dead people in the house, stashed in the fruit cellar while they’re snowed in, and she’s concerned about what they’re going to drink out of?
On the flipside, there were a lot of things I think were supposed to be comical that I found downright annoying. One example was the ongoing teasing about cooking and the great garlic debate. However, I realize humor is subjective so others may very well enjoy the banter.
One thing I noticed was a lot of name dropping. People in their 40s or so will get a lot of the references, ‘Logan’s Run’ for one, but they will most likely fly over the heads of the younger generation. Hell a number of them flew over my head, for instance the entire story about going to a Kathy Griffin concert. I have no idea who she is and don’t want, or need, to know.
I hazard to refer to this book as same sex, as most characters are hetro, and the so called relationship between Roger and Andy is barely there, until they kiss passionately near the very end.
All in all this was a jolly good romp. I liked it.
RATING: 
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