Misty Murphy is making changes in her life. Now that both of her sons are in college, she and her husband have decided to divorce and lead separate lives. There is no animosity in their split, but Misty is looking forward to starting a new phase of her life, that of owner of a boutique hotel in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The lodge is a place she vacationed since she was a kid, enjoying hiking and skiing with her parents and later with her husband and sons. And now, it’s all hers.
Misty has a bit of a rocky start, showing up at the lodge with her all-white cat Yeti, and then losing her footing—literally—when the floorboards below her shift. The heavy rains they’d gotten lately has created so much runoff under the main lodge that a support beam gave out. But a talented handyman, Rocky Crowder, along with his dog Molasses, is able to fix the support beams, the floor, and the windows that cracked when the floor fell, and he even added on a deck out back.
With a handyman in place and hiring a housekeeper/assistant to help her run the front desk and keep the guests happy, Misty is ready to open her doors. And it’s a good thing, since she had found a yoga group online who were about to cancel their weeklong retreat after a fire at the ashram they were headed to. Misty offered up the lodge as an alternative, and the group had jumped at the chance to go ahead with the retreat.
Misty and her new assistant Brynn ready the rooms, and Misty even makes a deal with Patty, the owner of the Greasy Griddle across the street, to provide a hot breakfast for her guests each morning. Misty has staff, she has pancakes for breakfasts, and she has a deck overlooking the beauty of the mountains with brand new deck furniture. She even has guests. The one thing she still needs is a new name for the lodge. Rocky suggests she go with the simple The Mountaintop Lodge, and Misty agrees that it’s perfect.
And then the yoga group arrives. First off of their chartered bus is Sasha, who booked the group. She is followed by a diverse group of yoga students—a mother and daughter, an older woman with her dog Chugalug, even a Nascar driver known for his hot temper. And while they have plenty of sessions planned for yoga, meditation, and stretching, no one is more surprised than Misty when someone adds something new to the schedule—murder.
When yoga studio owner Sasha is found under the deck early one morning, Misty can’t believe that one of her guest is a killer. But she’s more than willing to help Deputy Sheriff Yona Highblood figure out who it was who killed Sasha. After all, her new lodge’s reputation is on the line, along with everything she had planned for her future.
Since Misty is new to the area, she suspects not only her guests but also her new employees. Even though Brynn seemed like she’d been transparent about her background, Misty was surprised by her Wiccan beliefs, and it’s possible that she could be hiding a deadly secret. And while she’s been enjoying the flirting between Rocky and herself, Misty knows that she’s just met him and he’s certainly got the physical strength to kill someone and move their body.
And then there’s the young couple who had taken a room for a few days to take a break from hiking the Appalachian Trail for their honeymoon. Sure, they seem like good kids, but could they have been tempted to rob Sasha, and things got out of hand?
As Misty tries to piece together what happened with Sasha, is she putting herself in the sights of a killer? Will her lodge be able t survive the publicity? And more importantly, will Misty stay alive long enough to enjoy it?
Veteran mystery writer Diane Kelly brings us a new series with Getaway With Murder, the first in the Mountain Lodge Mysteries. With a naturally beautiful setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains and a strong, independent character in Misty, this series has a lot of interesting possibilities, especially with the different groups of guests coming to the lodge.
I really enjoyed this mystery. It’s fun to read, the mountain setting is peaceful, the addition of a Wiccan character adds an interesting perspective, as does the closeness of the lodge to the Appalachian Trail. Some of the chapters are told from Yeti’s perspective, and at first I found it off-putting to hear the thoughts of the cat. But as the book went on, I actually wanted more Yeti chapters. I wondered what she was doing in her room, what she was seeing out her windows. I look forward to seeing where this new series goes, and to hear more about Yeti’s new life in the mountains.
Egalleys for Getaway With Murder were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.
