The Alpine Advocate

Emma Lord #1

by Mary Daheim

The debut of the Emma Lord murder mystery series.
After a year as publisher-editor of the Alpine Advocate, Emma Lord feels fine about her move to this small town in the foothills of Washington's Cascade Mountains. What she really needs for her paper, though, is a big story. And she gets it--when handsome Mark Doukas, grandson of rich, old Neeny Doukas is murdered. Emma discovers that trying to get straight answers out of Neeny and his thin-lipped son is like poking a nest of sleeping rattlesnakes. What begins with an innocent story about the murdered man, ends with Emma conducting the most interesting, and probably the last, interview of her career from the wrong end of a .38....

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Ebooks, American

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 24, 1992

About the author

Mary Rene Richardson Daheim was an American writer of romance and mystery novels.

Reviews

[Thelma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just too simple and explanatory for my taste. Written in the first person, the main character had to explain every little thing. Tedious and pedestrian.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another “new” cozy series to dig into! I’m starting to appreciate more the older stories that involve landlines and snail mail and things that aren’t so instantaneous like we have today.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have recently been sequestered in a guest room, without a television, in order to care for one of my cats who just had major surgery. Thank god for my extensive book collection - it has kept me sane.

I tell you about my cat and my book collection as an introduction for my review. I first read The Alpine Advocate over ten years ago. I love finding new mystery series. On my first reading, I liked the characters, the setting, the storyline...all in all this is a good read. But, on re-reading it ten years later (which I probably wouldn't have done if not for the sequestering) I am seeing it through different eyes. In the last ten years I have been working towards writing a few mystery novels myself and, although I can say that I still like the characters, the setting, and the storyline, I must add that now that I know a bit about how mystery novels are written, I appreciate the storyline even more.

This book isn't fabulous: it's not literary, the dialogue and descriptions arent' sparkling, it won't change your life. It's just your average, run-of-the-mill contemporary cozy mystery, one of thousands of titles in the genre. But, it is well constructed. It's not Agatha Christie, but the plot is well done. And if you like mysteries with small-town settings and independent female protagonists you'll probably enjoy The Alpine Advocate.

[Rachel M · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was difficult for me to follow the cadence of her writing - it just didn't flow. The plot wasn't predictable or silly and I really had no idea who the muderer was or even what the motive, but still, this book just left a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe it was just that the characters lacked warmth. It kept me reading until the end, but even two days later I am struggling to remember the details of the plot. Reading this kind of mystery after Dorothy Sayers is like settling for cheese in a can when you live on a dairy farm.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The struggle was “real” to stay awake long enough to finish this book.
Disappointed to say the least, as a friend had recommended.
WAY too many extraneous characters cluttered the pages & wondered why that was done as well as what author had in mind when she had protagonist keep lots of info secret & shared so much info with others??? So relieved to discover whodunnit!

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have become a very picky reader with "cozy" mysteries. one thing I like about this series is that Emma's reason for investigating makes sense to me - she's a journalist. this first novel does leave some room for improvement, but everything is functional. we're introduced to many characters and the small town of Alpine (I was fascinated to read at the end of the book that the author lived in the actual town of Alpine, which has since been destroyed, and has recreated it in spirit). I loved Vida. some of the other characters are obnoxious (most specifically, Emma's son, Adam), and seeing Emma tolerate them imposing on her life made me want her to grow a spine (see also, when her former beau visits). still fun, and a rare series that I do want to keep reading :)

[Cara Noyes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I’d start a new author, new mystery series.
While the whodunnit was a bit surprising, I wasn’t surprised by the motive.
This was a more tedious plot and writing style than I prefer. While it was good to try something new, I do not think I am fond enough of Emma Lord to continue the series.

[Katherine Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid start to a series.

[Susan Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Emma Lord. This entire series, all 26 letters of the alphabet, is really good.

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma Lord is a single mom who has achieved her dream of owning a small town newspaper. Her son is away at college, so the paper is her main focus.

She is proud of hitting a full year as editor/publisher, but feels she needs to ramp things up. Maybe a big story or increase in advertising dollars?

Her hope is answered when Mark, the grandson of the patriarch of the Doukas family, is murdered. What really knocks it out of the park is the prime suspect is Chris, the other grandson, who has just returned to town after being gone 14 years.

Chris is considered the black sheep of the family due to his mother having married "beneath" her. When her husband disappeared, she packed up and left Alpine. Her father had disowned her when she married, so why not?

Emma relies on her assistant Vida, a virtual encyclopedia of Alpine's families and history, when she starts investigating. Scandal has always been part of the Doukas family and of interest to the town. Seems there is plenty to go around. Especially to a news woman.

Not only is Emma busy with running the weekly publishing schedule and trying to solve the murder, someone from her own past shows up and she has to deal with that and the town's curiosity.

This is the first in this series. I enjoyed it and will be looking for other books in the series.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 1st book in the Emma Lord series. A light, cozy mystery.

[Pandora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just could not finish

[Bill Hobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanksgiving falls right in between Halloween and Christmas, and is a time when most of us are bustling around, trying to get ready for the end of the year festivities. Perhaps, this is the reason that there are so few mystery books devoted to such a short ( and very busy) time of year. But they are out there, on our shelves just waiting to be appreciated!
It seems that we just put our Halloween costumes away and now’s time to start wrapping presents for Christmas, or at least creating our holiday card mailing list! In The Alpine Vengeance: An Emma Lord Mystery, we find a fast-reading cozy whodunit that can easily be read while the turkey is thawing!
Mary Daheim’s readable paperback is fun, set in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains—just as the leaves are all turning and Thanksgiving is in the air. It features Emma Lord, who is the editor and publisher of "The Alpine Advocate." While the holiday is approaching, she’s in a “down mood”—it looks like she will be giving thanks alone this year. What’s a single woman to do?
Just so, she gets a call from the sheriff (Emma has a history of solving murders and he’s grateful). He has received three letters (anonymous writer, of course) contending that the man convicted of a murder was the wrong man, who, as it turns out, had recently died in prison. A fourth letter arrives, threatening retribution (“an eye for an eye”)—directed at either Emma or the sheriff! The plot really does thicken here!
Suffice it to say, that doesn’t happen (this is a series by Daheim and there are more books to write!). "Alpine Vengeance" reads very fast and is not complicated at all, but it does give some tense moments, as well as providing some views of small town life there in the Cascades.

[booksalltheway · Rating 1 out of 5]

there is lot I want to say about the book though I will like to clear something out first...The book wasn't bad it just wasn't for me . Now i will like to explain my reasoning behind it:-
Coming first to the mystery part, it wasn't involving but intriguing...it kept me hooked till the end in order to discover the criminal but after knowing the name behind the murder, i was quite literally dumbfounded and i still don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing because even after knowing the killer I couldn't think Why? As i said it wasn't involving.

secondly and my main reason for giving it one star is that i did not like the main character! Why? Here is the reason:-
i did not find in her any passion for her profession in fact i think if it wouldn't have been for Vida her Advocate would have dissolved.
secondly, i did not like her romantic involvement with Tom (personally i have very strong dislike for cheaters) but even if i leave that part. there is another reason he had abandoned her with the child for twenty years (who did not even support her emotionally or financially) but when he comes back she is still very much in love with him...that was a moment i lost all respect for her.

another thing was that it was written in blurb 'Emma conducting the most interesting, and probably the last, interview of her career from the wrong end of a '. but when i was reading there wasn't really so big of a threat on her life. So....

though for me the heroine of this book is Vida if it wouldn't have been for her i don't think i would have lasted till the end.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is what I consider unreadable. The grammar is awful from the first page. I made it through one chapter before moving on to something else.

”“The town thrived, if that’s the word, from the pre-World War I era until the Depression when it should have folded and disappeared, like other railroad semaphore spots along the old Great Northern route, such as Tonga and Korea.”

What is she even trying to say? Why do we care about Euro-Asian railroads in Seattle?

“Orientals” is not a term used to describe Chinese immigrants. I am normally not offended by the misuse- but this is a journalist who knows that being PC is critical.

I have a fondness for any author willing to seek out obscure words, but shudder when the author of a book written at a 4-6th grade level intersperses these words at random. It’s unnecessary and obvious. This actually stops the reader’s flow and may cause them to misunderstand or look up the words.

I was disappointed in this book, because it was exactly what I was looking for. I won’t be finishing the series, nor could I recommend it to another reader.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5* I enjoyed this story. I had trouble keeping the Doukas family tree in order, but other than that it was an engaging story with interesting characters. I do not like Tom and he needs to not be back. He is in no position to be jealous of Emma or who she spends time with. He gave up that right a long time ago. I genuinely had no idea who the killer was, but as the story progressed I was fairly certain that Mark was not the intended target, that Chris was. For a while I thought Phoebe was the killer, but the truth about Chris and her parentage got rid of that notion. I would have liked to see the scene of Phoebe telling Neeny the truth about Chris, to see how he handled it. I was surprised about Eeeny being the killer. His reasoning for killing Mark made sense, Chris saw him kill his father and he thought Mark was Chris. However, I never really understood WHY Eeeny killed Hector. Otherwise, this was a good mystery and I am interested in reading more in this series.

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[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read a scattering of Alpine mysteries without realizing that the series ran from A to Z, from Alpine Advocate to Alpine Zen.
I started reading The Alpine Yeoman and found it heavy going, burdened with bunches of local characters popping into the story and as quickly out again.
Being in possession of Alpines A, M, and Y, I decided I was in a good position to find out if the first book was less overpopulated and maybe the cast of characters grew in time and might be better kept track of by someone reading all the books in order.
I still had trouble keeping track of all the people in this, the first book of the series. The plot was decent and the writing otherwise good, but I prefer the author's Bed-and-Breakfast mysteries and have not decided whether to read M and Y now.

[CarolAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading the Emma Lord series from the latest rather than at the beginning and I really liked it. I listened to the 3 last books and could not decide if it was the narrator or the writing that I was intrigued with. Now that I found the first of the series in paperback, I now know I loved the writing. Not to say I would discount the narrator, she was fun to listen to.
Alpine Advocate was my kind of murder mystery. It reminds me of "Murder She Wrote", "Rosemary and Thyme" and "Matlock". The story line is full of interesting and quirky characters. And the murderer is unfolded in the final chapter of the book. No gore, clean language, and no smoochy romance. Just a little note, I guessed who the killer was but I could not figure out motive. Fun series.

[Linda C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emma Lord bought The Alpine Advocate weekly newspaper in Alpine, WA, a year before the start of this book and has a motley crew of staff assisting her. Her son, Adam, is attending college in Hawaii. His former roommate, Chris Ramirez, estranged grandson of local rich land owner, Neeny Doukas, has come home to connect with the family after the death of his mother. But after a couple of days, Neeny's other grandson Mark is murdered and Chris has left town. Since Chris was staying with her and as a journalist, Emma is in the thick of things. Interesting first of a series with potential. The MC has a better reason for investigating than in some cozy mysteries I've read.

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

A smalltown cozy mystery with a likable main character. This is the first of the series and I will be following up with the next volume. The small town feel is pretty accurate is several ways, especially how everyone seems to be related (Emma, a resident of only 4 years, expresses at one point that she wishes she had some genealogical charts before she attended some events, etc.)

Local high-profile family with secrets and unfinished business welcomes (?) a long-gone grandson and then murders begin. Is Chris actually involved? Emma and her co-workers no only need to report the news, but get involved in solving both the new murders and looking in to an old missing persons report.

[Laura Steinert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not start this series unless you are willing to make time for all 26 books (Yes the whole alphabet of titles.) Do start with the first book as over the years we get to know most everyone in town--so the character list keeps going despite so many getting bumped off. I set a goal of reading three per year, but ended up reading two a month all summer, then one a month in fall and winter. Warning, no cell phones, no Facebook, no IM--just a newspaper woman trying to keep her business alive in a tiny town in the Mountains of Washington State.

[Arija · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mystery with good details about a small town in the Mountains of Washington state, a few hours drive from Seattle. Having lived and travelled in that area, the little details were accu unlike authors who write about somewhere they haven't been or researched. Also, the main character runs a small town newspaper. The details of the business and workings of a newspaper office were equally descriptive and accurate. I grew up working on my father's weekly Newspaper and could easily relate to the main character as she worked. It brought back many fond memories of my newspaper days.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this series since it takes place in my home state. But I was very much underwhelmed by it. None of the characters were overly interesting or likable, not even the main character. She was unlikable. She just came across very blamed and boring. The plot was vaguely interesting, but it came very clear very quickly why the character was murdered and I spent the whole time just waiting for the main character to realize it. I got about halfway through and then just started skimming it rather than truly reading it.

[Eleanor Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that started me on a permanent love affair with this series. A beautifully crafted storyline of Emma Lord, journalist, and her adventures in Alpine, Washington. Memorable characters, including the setting, terrific storytelling and plotting, and a town you'll want to return to again and again. Dark and yet uplifting, spirited and sticks with you. I cannot say enough about how much I've enjoyed this series. A top three mystery series ever for this serial reader.

[Mooncat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't decide between 3 or 4 stars ...
Once again, the setting isn't my cup of tea. But the characters drew me in nonetheless, even though the heroine Emma is at least a decade older than I usually prefer it. Overall it's a bit slow too - but just interesting enough for me to keep reading and reading it in big blokes. So yeah, nice read. I'm tempted to continue reading the series, but not sure yet.

[Susan Elizabetha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading Pacific Northwest authors and their take of the area. Emma Lord fascinates me. Running a small town paper has its challenges particular to the fictional town of Alpine, Washintgon and the surrounding area. A mystery surrounding the town leader, Neeny Doukas and the death of his son at an abandoned mine. I highly recommend this series and I look forward to reading more of this author's work.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma has purchased the Alpine newspaper which she runs with an odd assortments of employees. Her illegitimate son is in school in Hawaii. Her son’s father and the love of her life, comes to town to consult. A murder happens in town and Emma is determined to solve the crime to protect a friend of her son.

[Jessica Gintner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heard about this author through my book club. She is a good writer who does keep you guessing but introduces so many characters, it's hard to keep track of them all! And many are just incidental town folk.
But she creates a strong female lead character in a time when there weren't many (book copyright is 1992). I'm going to read the 2nd book in the series to see where it goes.

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to like this on a good friend's recommendation, but the characters are completely unsympathetic. Within the first ten pages our protagonist compares her family members to farm animals, jokes about suicide, and brags about how smart she is.... and not in a charismatic yet naughty charm kind of way, and not in a funny/ ironic/ spoof kind of way. She's awful. Can't get through the thing.