Mourning Shift

Tory Bauer Mystery #4

by Kathleen Taylor

Tory Bauer is the quintessential diner waitress, slopping up greasy food with a hefty side order of cranky attitude. In Mourning Shift the goblins are out for Halloween, and Tory is crabbier than usual. Is it a trick when a mysterious old man dies in the cafe's restroom? Or is it a treat to find out the juicy gossip that he's the cafe owner's long estranged husband? The reluctant heroine saves the day again by discovering the identity of a killer.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Kathleen Taylor is a freelance knitwear designer and a prolific writer. She is the author of the popular book Knit One, Felt Too, and her knitting designs have appeared in more than 50 different magazines. She lives in Redfield, South Dakota.

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my next read, I was looking for a light humorous cozy mystery that is well written. I chose the 4th book in the Tory Bauer Mystery series and it fit the bill precisely. I don't know how many people know about this series, but if you like humorous cozy mysteries you should enjoy this series.

Tory Bauer is an overweight, middle aged widowed waitress who works in Delphi South Dakotas only cafe. The mystery starts out with a customer found dead in the bathroom. Other events are a stripper comes to town and Tory loses a friend to murder. I read the first book Funeral Food some time ago and I ordered all of the six books in the series. They are entertaining and humorous. Some cozy readers might be sensitive to occasional language and sexual infidelity in the series.

[Nancy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth entry in the Tori Bauer mystery series, and in my opinion, it is the best one yet. I could not stop reading it and had to find out who the murderer was as well as what happened to the other characters. This is definitely a good read!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these mysteries. They are well thought out and they make so much sense when it's all explained at the end. There isn't a weird twist that comes out of nowhere and is obviously just a ploy to confuse the readers.

That being said, I knocked off a couple of stars because I'm getting a little tired of some of the subplots. Tory has been trying to date Stu McKee the last couple of books. It's not going anywhere. She knows it, he knows it, but she avoids him because she doesn't want to deal with the emotion. Even when they finally have their big scene, it's such an emotional letdown.

And sometimes, I don't understand why these people are her friends. She never talks to them about issues and doesn't seem to really care about them. I wish that the continuing story from one book to the next would just get a little more developed.

Also, her first book talks about Tory and her mother at length. Her mother has never come back in the next three books. What happened to her? And Del's son Presley doesn't seem to age. Either the author is not to worried about that, or these murders just happen one on top of the other and this town is going to the dogs.

[Ryan Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the series from the start. This one is Halloween themed and favorite of mine in every mystery series with amateur sleuth. In this one a old man is is found in the bathroom of the diner. And it turns out to be the owner's estranged ex-husband come out of the woodwork. So it's up to everyone smart mouth talking waitress Tory Bauer to solve the case.

[Rebecca Woitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author draws you into the small town of Delphi, South Dakota with her interesting cast of characters where everyone knows everyone including everyone’s business.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's Halloween and shenanigans abound. In the cafe, employees are dressed up, being serenaded by ghoul (girl) scouts and serving up a crowd. Then an unfortunate out-of-towner is found dead in the restroom. A strong reaction from cafe owner Aphrodite astonishes patron and employee alike. Turns out it is her estranged husband. Add to that a sudden reappearance of a daughter and grandson a you have a whole cauldron brewing. Later, when another death occurs in a violent manner, and with Tory being uncomfortably near, she is more or less pushed into helping solve the mystery.

This book was okay but I wasn't really all that fond of it. I did find this story much more interesting than the first book in the series. But this author and series will never be one of my favorite.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this book. I felt the book could have been a lot shorter without the amount of "fluff" in the beginning of each chapter. At the end of each chapter, you were left hanging, encouraging you to read on but the next chapter would begin with some new story before getting back to the issue at hand.

Overall, the book had me going until the very end but it was a struggle to pick up the book each time. The killer was a bit of a surprise which was a nice change for once. I give the book two stars.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read, an interesting murder mystery set like all of the stories in this series in a small South Dakota town. I started reading this series when I found Kathleen Taylor's blog on fibercrafts and she talked about the novels she wrote.

I find the stories interesting since Taylor knows small towns and the citizen's relationships. The intereactions of the citizens of the town always lend themselves to solving the story.

[Mary (Biblophile) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the book was a little slow and overly verbose.It took a while for things to get moving and even then it plodded along.

[Mary Newcomb]

The Delphi Cafe will never be the same as Aphrodite (the owner and chief cook) died in a car explosion. Tory Bauer figures it all out in unexpected ways.

[Sarah "Kat" · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is consistently well-written,intricately plotted and fun.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the previous Tory Bauer books, I thoroughly enjoyed this story.