A Streetcar Named Expire

by Mary Daheim

Book Overview

For Sale: Luxury Condos, Corpse Included Just a stone's throw from Judith McMonigle Flynn's thriving Hillside Manor, workmen are busy renovating the elegantly decrepit Alhambra Arms into pricey... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380800802
• ISBN13: 9780380800803
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Cousins go on a murder tour

Judith Flynn's cousin, Renie, talks her into going on a "murder tour" of their city. Judith is surprised and incensed when she finds out that the first stop is her own bed-and-breakfast where, indeed, there have been previous murders. The next stop is the Alhambra Arms, an old apartment complex which is being converted to condominiums. A 40-year-old corpse, which had been buried behind a wall, had recently been discovered. In order to encourage sales and satisfy those concerned about lingering spirits, an exorcist is brought in....the mystery deepens. Judith is convinced...two murders are related so she launches her own "unofficial" investigation, much to the disgust of husband Joe who is a private detective....Another enjoyable "cozy" from author Daheim.

The best Judith and Renie book yet.

In this mystery Judith and Renie take a murder mystery tour of their neighborhood. It is no surprise to the reader that Judith's bed and breakfast is featured, but Judith is furious at the lurid description of her home and rushes to confront the tour operator at the next stop. She follows him upstairs to the second floor of an historic apartment complex and finds the featured entertainment, an exorcist, dead of a gunshot wound. This is a fast moving and entertaining mystery, the characters are very quirky, and there are red herrings aplenty. I find myself looking forward to the next one.

A mystery, straight up with humor!

Judith Flynn is not James Bond when it comes to solving mysteries because Bond himself was never this real nor this funny! Toss her cousin, Renie Jones into the mix and you have a pair of the zaniest, middle aged sleuths this side of....uhhhhh....well, any Agatha Christie characters. This was my first experience at reading a Mary Daheim book but, certainly not my last. It was a riotious read that kept me guessing to the very end (and then I was wrong about who did what to whom). Judith and Renie may not have the most conventional methods of getting to the bottom of the case, however, they have the brains plus pure dumb luck on their side. They're both a hoot and an easy read! Now I'm off to find another Daheim book for my reading pleasure.

A delightful cosy

In the past decade, Judith McMonigle Flynn, proud owner of the bustling Hillside Manor Bed and Breakfast, seemingly has stumbled on more dead bodies than many coroners have. Judith reluctantly accompanies her cousin Rennie on a death tour that the latter won with the highest bid during a church auction. Judith becomes outraged to learn her B & B is part of the tourThe tour stops at the dumpy Alhambra Arms where Judith peaks into a room only to spot the corpse of a woman on the bed. Judith becomes a media sensation just like she ha last many times before. Month ago the crew found the remains of a decades-old person walled up in one of the apartments. Judith believes there is a connection between the two deaths and begins to investigate, not yet aware that any revelation could make her corpse number three.The "Bed and Breakfast Mystery" series is like a bag of potato chips as readers can't read just one. Each time Mary Daheim releases a new entry, fans seem propelled to go back and reread the previous novels just to remember what trouble Judith manages to encounter. A STREETCAR NAMED EXPIRE is a well-done amateur sleuth novel filled with a plethora of suspects so that the audience struggles with identifying the villain. Cozies should always be this delightful.Harriet Klausner