by Tim Myers
Publisher:Berkley Prime Crime
Release Date: 2 September 2003
ISBN: 0-425-19310-1
Format: Paperback
Pages: 181
Genre: Mystery
Time to read: 4 hours
Source: Dollar General
aStore Link (Physical Book): Room for Murder
aStore Link (Kindle Book): Room for Murder
Summary
(from back of book)
Alex couldn't be happier. His best friend, Mor Pendleton, is about to tie the knot--and he's asked Alex to be the best man. But before the festivities can begin, the bride-to-be's ex is found dead--in the cab of Mor's truck. Suddenly, trying to come up with the toast of a lifetime is the least of Alex's worries--especially when the town's top mayoral candidate goes missing. Now, Alex must hunt down a killer before he winds up with more ghosts than guests at the beloved inn....Room for Murder is the fourth in Tim Myers' "Lighthouse Inn Mystery" series. It takes place in the fictional small town of Elkton Falls in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. (I'm assuming it's fictional; a quick Google Maps search did not point me anywhere near NC.) The main setting is the Hatteras West Inn and Lighthouse, run by Alex Winston. The landlocked lighthouse on the grounds is an exact replica of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on NC's east coast.
My Reaction
This was actually the second time I've read this book; I first read it in 2007 and thought I had reviewed it on an earlier version of my blog, but I could find no evidence of doing so. This re-read proved to be as successful as the first read-through as I had no idea what the outcome of the story was until near the end when my memory finally started giving me feedback on the first reading.
As I remember thinking the first time I read this, you can tell that this is a story in a series; but the author does a great job of alluding to previous occurrences in Elkton Falls or outright catching the reader up on some of the details that would be familiar to a return reader. He does this in a very casual way that does not detract from the rhythm of the story and really made me want to go back to the first three books to see what adventures I missed.
I really enjoyed my time with this book as the action took up very quickly and the mystery held tight throughout the majority of the pages. Plus, the sideline plots of the tentative relationship between Alex and Elise and the mayoral race allowed for the dialogue to really flesh out the characters in a realistic manner. I especially enjoyed that main character is not really acting in the typical mystery book fashion as an over-the-top amateur sleuth who asks all the right questions; Alex seems like a normal guy who is just trying to help his friends and getting caught up in some of the craziness as it happens.
One thing about the title, book cover, and blurb bothered me after completing the story. It shows the interior of one of the rooms in the inn along with the teaser, "There's a sudden vacancy at the inn." However, as you can tell from the summary above directly from the book, the murder does not take place in the inn at all, let alone in a room of the inn. Fortunately the pace of the book allowed me to forget whatever expectation the cover may have stirred my mind to create. Also, one of the chapters is a pretty hilarious elimination of a red herring to which the book's back cover summary refers.
Two very big things stood out to me in this book that made me like it even more, though. Firstly, apart from the murders the book is clean. It's very rare to come across an author who understands that you can tell a riveting tale without using profanity or gratuitous sexual scenes. Notably there was a scene where a character was said to swear, but the offending word was not used; and I don't feel the story was any poorer for doing so.
Secondly, the story takes place in a part of the country I'd visited many times and have oft dreamed of living some day. It's very similar to the small-town culture I grew up in along with the interesting characters that really do exist in these types of places. Myers does a great job of presenting the southern charm of North Carolinians with some of the references and figures of speech he used, which based on his bio seems to be because that is where he lives.
I recommend this book and look forward to finding the rest of the series to get more involved in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries.
Reading Challenges: 2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge
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