Doom with a View: A Merry Ghost Inn Mystery

by Kate Kingsbury

Overview

When a guest mysteriously dies at the Merry Ghost Inn, Melanie and her grandmother fear that their professional reputations—and their lives—are on the line
 
With the arrival of six senior reading group members at the Merry Ghost Inn, the long-awaited Grand Opening week has finally begun for Melanie West and her grandmother, Liza. All is well with the Oregon coast-side B&B until Melanie’s dog, Max, finds the dead body of one of their guests.

Everyone at the inn immediately falls under suspicion, including the innkeepers themselves. Melanie and Liza are not sure who they can trust, and the idea of cohabitating with a murderer is enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. To make matters worse, the curmudgeonly town detective wants them to steer clear of the investigation, but doesn’t seem too inspired to solve the case in a timely fashion himself. To clear their own names and to avoid the blight on the inn’s reputation that yet another dead body will bring, Melanie and Liza dive headlong into the murder investigation.

With a little help from their chuckling ghost, Melanie and Liza dodge the detective, tip-toe around their suspicious guests, and still serve up delicious Bed & Breakfast meals on time in Kate Kingsbury’s delightful second Merry Ghost Inn mystery, Doom with a View.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683312369
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	09/12/2017
Series:	A Merry Ghost Inn Mystery , #2
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	338,290
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Kate Kingsbury is the national bestselling author of over sixty books. Her work has appeared on many bestseller lists and her books have sold all over the world. She grew up in London, England and moved to the U.S. in the early sixties. She now lives in Oregon and spends some of her spare time playing golf and camping in an RV with her husband, Bill and a Chihuahua/mix puppy named Bella.

Editorial Reviews

07/31/2017
Kingsbury’s delightful sequel to 2016’s Dead and Breakfast finds former financial analyst Melanie West and her spunky grandmother, Liza Harris, ready for the grand opening of their bed-and-breakfast, the Merry Ghost Inn, in Sully’s Landing, Ore. For the first evening, they have hired a magician to entertain their six guests. Unfortunately, one of them, elderly Walter Dexter, does his best to rattle the magician (“I saw better acts than that in kindergarten”). The next morning, Melanie’s dog, Max, starts barking; she follows him outside and discovers Walter lying in the driveway, his head at an odd angle. Worried that Walter’s demise may harm future reservations, Melanie and Liza set out to find out whodunit and restore their business’s good name. Orville, the laughing ghost that haunts the old inn, assists. Revelations concerning Orville’s past as a live person and the mysterious disappearance of Melanie’s mother enhance the sleuthing. Cozy fans with a taste for the paranormal will be rewarded. Agent: Paige Wheeler, CMA Literary Agency. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Doom With a View:
"Delightful…Cozy fans with a taste for the paranormal will be rewarded."
—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Dead and Breakfast:
“Kingsbury’s crime-solving pair are wonderfully appealing, whether they are ferreting out the town’s secrets or dealing with the grief in their own lives. Fans of M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series will find lots of similarities here.”
—Booklist

"Lighthearted and charming... Who wouldn't want to open a B&B on the Oregon coast after reading Kingsbury's delightful mystery?"
—Library Journal

“The prolific Kingsbury launches a new series with likable characters and a beautiful setting.”
—Kirkus Reviews

"[An] enjoyable series launch from Kingsbury."
—Publishers Weekly

“What could be more intriguing than spending the night in a creaky old bed-and-breakfast haunted by a chuckling ghost? A charming grandmother/granddaughter duo, unsettling small-town secrets, and a long-hidden skeleton at the Merry Ghost Inn add up to a winning debut for this ghostly cozy series.”
—Juliet Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author of the Haunted Home Renovation series

“Dead and Breakfast is a page-turner from the first scene, where the about-to-open B&B unexpectedly becomes a crime scene. Melanie and her grandmother Liza are smart, believable, easy-to-like people and the writing is pitch-perfect. You’ll want to book an immediate reservation for the Merry Ghost Inn. Better hurry-Kate Kingsbury’s fine new series is about to get all booked up!”
—Susan Wittig Albert, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Orange and Bittersweet

“What’s not to like about a laughing ghost? Dead and Breakfast is a spirited beginning to Kate Kingsbury’s new Merry Ghost Inn series. More laughter to come.”
—Carolyn Hart, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Times Two

“Dead and Breakfast is an intriguing whodunit enriched with two plucky heroines opening a seaside bed and breakfast, a ghost with a delightful laugh, and a splash of romance. All the ingredients necessary for an entertaining red from start to surprising finish.”
--Sally Goldenbaum, USA Today bestselling author of the Seaside Knitters Society mysteries

“Kate Kingsbury is a pro—and it shows in every witty line of Dead and Breakfast. West coast setting, B&B with a secret room and a skeleton. What’s not to love? This book is so well done it almost reads itself. Treat yourself to the first in a new series—a must read.”
—Carolyn Haines, USA Today bestselling author of Rock-A-Bye Bones

“A laughing ghost, a winsome dog, and a charming Oregon coastal village make the Merry Ghost Inn mysteries a place you’ll want to visit again and again.”
—Leslie Budewitz, two-time Agatha Award winning author of the Seattle Spice Shop mysteries

From the Publisher

2017-07-04
A haunted inn finally opens, with decidedly mixed results.Now that they've solved a murder and recovered from a fire (Dead and Breakfast, 2017, etc.), Melanie West and her English-born grandmother, Liza, are hosting the grand opening of the Merry Ghost Inn, a lovely house on the Oregon coast that's fully booked for the week. Although Melanie doesn't believe in ghosts, there's clearly something in the house making noises that sound like laughter. With the help of their new hire, Cindi, Melanie and Liza are seeking to cater to the needs of six people who live in a Portland retirement community and belong to the same book club. The guests enjoy the wonderful food the hostesses serve, but a magic show staged by Cindi's boyfriend, Nick, draws nasty comments from Walter Dexter, one of two men in the group. When Melanie finds Walter dead in the driveway the next morning, she assumes he's suffered a heart attack until the police discover that the railing on the balcony he fell from had been sawed partway through. Melanie's friendship with Officer Ben Carter hasn't extended to Detective Dutton, who's still angry with the ladies for meddling in the inn's first murder. Since the police have forbidden their guests from leaving town even though the inn is also booked for next week, Melanie and Liza have exactly one week to solve the crime. A friendly bar owner feeds Liza leaks he gets from the police, so they have some idea what Ben and Dutton are thinking. But talking with their closemouthed guests may be the best way to discover who had it in for Walter. A distinct improvement over the series debut that provides lots of suspects, family problems, and a hint of romance to come.

Kirkus Reviews