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Bed-and-Breakfast Mysteries #16
A Streetcar Named Expire
For Sale: Luxury Condos, Corpse Included
Just a stone's throw from Judith McMonigle Flynn's thriving Hillside Manor, workmen are busy renovating the elegantly decrepit Alhambra Arms into pricey condominiums. But concerned contractor George Guthrie fears that well-heeled potential buyers may blanch when they learn about the four-decades-dead body that was stashed behind the crumbling walls of the moldy manse. And ever-inquisitive Judith's discovery of some much more recent remains on the premises threatens to se property values through the floorboards--and Guthrie through the roof! Both her professional detective husband Joe and her partner-in-crime solving cousin Renie think Judith is bonkers to suspect that the two killings are connected. Nevertheless, Judith's ready to build a strong case to that effect -- unless some homicidal someone decides to deconstruct her first!
Just a stone's throw from Judith McMonigle Flynn's thriving Hillside Manor, workmen are busy renovating the elegantly decrepit Alhambra Arms into pricey condominiums. But concerned contractor George Guthrie fears that well-heeled potential buyers may blanch when they learn about the four-decades-dead body that was stashed behind the crumbling walls of the moldy manse. And ever-inquisitive Judith's discovery of some much more recent remains on the premises threatens to se property values through the floorboards--and Guthrie through the roof! Both her professional detective husband Joe and her partner-in-crime solving cousin Renie think Judith is bonkers to suspect that the two killings are connected. Nevertheless, Judith's ready to build a strong case to that effect -- unless some homicidal someone decides to deconstruct her first!
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
47 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Mary Daheim
94 books443 followersMary Rene Richardson Daheim was an American writer of romance and mystery novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
September 19, 2015
A Streetcar named Expire by Mary Daheim ( Bed and Breakfast 16) is a 2001 Avon Publication.
I am far more familiar with Mary Daheim's Emma Lord series, but I have checked in with the Judith Flynn from time to time.
I came across this one while browsing through my Overdrive account and was reminded of how long it had been since I had read anything from this series and how very far behind in it I am. This one was published way back in 2001 if that tells you anything.
Judith and her cousin Renie are once more putting their heads together to solve a murder. This time there is a current case and a cold case to work and while they don't seem related at all, Judith is convinced the two cases are connected.
I am going to do whatever I can to catch up with this series. Judith and Renie have such outstanding dialogue and the mysteries are definitely a cut above. Judith's relationship with her mother is both sad and humorous, which reminds me... there is an ostrich in this story! Yes, you read that right. So now, if you have not read this book, you will have to find a copy to find out how that plays into the story.
I loved the odd duck characters in this one and the way the author weaves the past in with the present exposing dark secrets and old crimes.
These are stories are so much fun to read, very light, laced with unique humor, and a puzzling mystery. Mary Daheim really has the cozy mystery genre down to a science. I'm so happy I chances across this one and got reacquainted this series. 4 stars
I am far more familiar with Mary Daheim's Emma Lord series, but I have checked in with the Judith Flynn from time to time.
I came across this one while browsing through my Overdrive account and was reminded of how long it had been since I had read anything from this series and how very far behind in it I am. This one was published way back in 2001 if that tells you anything.
Judith and her cousin Renie are once more putting their heads together to solve a murder. This time there is a current case and a cold case to work and while they don't seem related at all, Judith is convinced the two cases are connected.
I am going to do whatever I can to catch up with this series. Judith and Renie have such outstanding dialogue and the mysteries are definitely a cut above. Judith's relationship with her mother is both sad and humorous, which reminds me... there is an ostrich in this story! Yes, you read that right. So now, if you have not read this book, you will have to find a copy to find out how that plays into the story.
I loved the odd duck characters in this one and the way the author weaves the past in with the present exposing dark secrets and old crimes.
These are stories are so much fun to read, very light, laced with unique humor, and a puzzling mystery. Mary Daheim really has the cozy mystery genre down to a science. I'm so happy I chances across this one and got reacquainted this series. 4 stars
May 26, 2025
Charming but terribly disjointed. So many strange elements (a hip injury, an ostrich?!) that were referenced so many times but would’ve changed the story 0% if they had been left out. Can’t wait to shove this back in the little library down the road
May 9, 2025
This mystery is quite a romp, first on a mystery Streetcar and Julia finds a murder victim. What will happen next? Be sure and read this book, it has many more surprises.
December 28, 2014
This is the best entry in this series so far. I really enjoyed the mystery in this one. It was very nuanced and had depth. As well as the history of all the interconnected characters from the WWII era Alhambra apartments.
It still had all the ingredients I had come to love in this series. The humor and the quirky characters, but the addition of a cracker jack mystery really brought it over the top.
It still had all the ingredients I had come to love in this series. The humor and the quirky characters, but the addition of a cracker jack mystery really brought it over the top.
December 17, 2017
#16 in the Judith McMonigle Flynn bed and breakfast (Judith is the owner/operator of one) mystery series set in the Pacific Northwest. A contractor renovating a building near Judith’s bed and breakfast discovers a decades old hidden body and hidden treasurer then noesy Judith discovers more recent remains.
Helping to keep the lighter tone in this cozy mystery are Judith's mother (in the running for the world's crankiest person) and Judith's flighty wize cracking cousin, Renie, who also serves as Judith's "Watson."
Helping to keep the lighter tone in this cozy mystery are Judith's mother (in the running for the world's crankiest person) and Judith's flighty wize cracking cousin, Renie, who also serves as Judith's "Watson."
April 4, 2020
Judith is unwilling taking part in a murder and mayhem tour with her cousin and discovers her B&B one of the attractions. Also on the tour was the renovation of the Alhambra Arms where a body was discovered during the removal of walls. When she goes to confront the tour bus owner she discovers a body, not sure if it is real or part of the tour, especially when the media shows up. When Joe (Judith's husband) is hired to find the killer, Judith is trying to discover information on the body that was discovered in the wall. Nice twist is the ostrich that keeps popping up.
January 8, 2022
I enjoyed it. But I really wanted to see Emil get back home. Or perhaps to a new, more suitable home than the suburbs. I was surprised to find myself at the end. I felt like “Oh, is everything resolved?” It ended without a final conversation between Joe & Judith revealing everything they each knew, & revealing to Joe that Judith was right.
August 5, 2017
Judith and Serena take a murder tour in their hometown. Of course Judith finds a body. The craziness that ensues is hilarious fun! Throw in an ostrich on the loose and it makes for a great cozy mystery!
December 10, 2017
Awesome read!!
This is the twistiest plot I’ve read yet from Mary Daheim. Awesome to read. I highly recommend all the Bed and Breakfast mysteries. You’ll love the characters too.
This is the twistiest plot I’ve read yet from Mary Daheim. Awesome to read. I highly recommend all the Bed and Breakfast mysteries. You’ll love the characters too.
September 8, 2018
One of the better books in this series. I'm not crazy about this series but it's grown on me. Judith was less obnoxious than in previous books.
September 22, 2018
Ok
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2019
Love the humor!
August 31, 2020
A delightful, light read. Some swearing and mild innuendo, but nothing major. I would definitely read more
February 8, 2021
DNF. Got to page 12 and all the various characters have done is whine and insult each other. Who needs to read THAT?
Read
July 22, 2023Another fun sleuthing with the funny cousins
May 20, 2024
These cousins make me laugh…
August 3, 2025
Clever and funny mystery. Still relevant almost 25 years after being published.
July 24, 2016
I have an affinity for cozy mysteries. They generally aren't written in pursuit of a spot on the bestseller list; rather, cozies are written to give the reader a sense of comfort and calm (ironically, by way of murder).
My mom read cozies to escape her three eccentric young daughters and grumpy husband: one daughter, the artist, painted five-foot tall green flowers on the side of the freshly painted rental when she was four; the adventurous daughter asked which way north was, and was found by neighbors five hours later walking up the beach, wearing a backpack, in pursuit of Santa in the North Pole (we lived on an island--she wasn't the brightest of the three of us); and the oldest daughter (that would be I) caused her first-year kindergarten teacher to quit by demanding that all classroom toy soldiers and toy weapons be removed from the classroom so that her classmates would not become violent adults, and that the teacher immediately stop smoking on her breaks because she would surely die of lung cancer. As to my mother's husband, he had some strange notion that feeding 40 stray cats, a stray goat, a duck, and 4 turtles (not stray) out of a 2-bedroom apartment was odd. He also became irrationally upset when the cat gave birth in his shoe. So you see, for my mother, it was either read a cozy or drink (or possibly dispose of the children and husband).
Years later, when my grandmother came to live with us (bigger house, different country, revolving pet door, dad retired and usually lost in Best Buy, girls now goth, theater geek, and raver) we slowly replaced her true crime books with cozies in order to keep her from roaming the house at night after taking her pain pills, looking for the Son of Sam whilst armed with a shoe horn.
And all this is how I came to read cozies myself, because they were always there to help me escape my crazy family, you could carry on a screaming match with a sibling and not miss much in the book, and thanks to grandma's Dahmer intervention, there were always a shitload in the house. (Serious reading was done away from the insane people.)I have an affinity for cozy mysteries. They generally aren't written in pursuit of a spot on the bestseller list; rather, cozies are written to give the reader a sense of comfort and calm (ironically, by way of murder).
My mom read cozies to escape her three eccentric young daughters and grumpy husband: one daughter, the artist, painted five-foot tall green flowers on the side of the freshly painted rental when she was four; the adventurous daughter asked which way north was, and was found by neighbors five hours later walking up the beach, wearing a backpack, in pursuit of Santa in the North Pole (we lived on an island--she wasn't the brightest of the three of us); and the oldest daughter (that would be I) caused her first-year kindergarten teacher to quit by demanding that all classroom toy soldiers and toy weapons be removed from the classroom so that her classmates would not become violent adults, and that the teacher immediately stop smoking on her breaks because she would surely die of lung cancer. As to my mother's husband, he had some strange notion that feeding 40 stray cats, a stray goat, a duck, and 4 turtles (not stray) out of a 2-bedroom apartment was odd. He also became irrationally upset when the cat gave birth in his shoe. So you see, for my mother, it was either read a cozy or drink (or possibly dispose of the children and husband).
Years later, when my grandmother came to live with us (bigger house, different country, revolving pet door, dad retired and usually lost in Best Buy, girls now goth, theater geek, and raver) we slowly replaced her true crime books with cozies in order to keep her from roaming the house at night after taking her pain pills, looking for the Son of Sam whilst armed with a shoe horn.
And all this is how I came to read cozies myself, because they were always there to help me escape my crazy family, you could carry on a screaming match with a sibling and not miss much in the book, and thanks to grandma's Dahmer intervention, there were always a shitload in the house. (Serious reading was done away from the insane people.)
My mom read cozies to escape her three eccentric young daughters and grumpy husband: one daughter, the artist, painted five-foot tall green flowers on the side of the freshly painted rental when she was four; the adventurous daughter asked which way north was, and was found by neighbors five hours later walking up the beach, wearing a backpack, in pursuit of Santa in the North Pole (we lived on an island--she wasn't the brightest of the three of us); and the oldest daughter (that would be I) caused her first-year kindergarten teacher to quit by demanding that all classroom toy soldiers and toy weapons be removed from the classroom so that her classmates would not become violent adults, and that the teacher immediately stop smoking on her breaks because she would surely die of lung cancer. As to my mother's husband, he had some strange notion that feeding 40 stray cats, a stray goat, a duck, and 4 turtles (not stray) out of a 2-bedroom apartment was odd. He also became irrationally upset when the cat gave birth in his shoe. So you see, for my mother, it was either read a cozy or drink (or possibly dispose of the children and husband).
Years later, when my grandmother came to live with us (bigger house, different country, revolving pet door, dad retired and usually lost in Best Buy, girls now goth, theater geek, and raver) we slowly replaced her true crime books with cozies in order to keep her from roaming the house at night after taking her pain pills, looking for the Son of Sam whilst armed with a shoe horn.
And all this is how I came to read cozies myself, because they were always there to help me escape my crazy family, you could carry on a screaming match with a sibling and not miss much in the book, and thanks to grandma's Dahmer intervention, there were always a shitload in the house. (Serious reading was done away from the insane people.)I have an affinity for cozy mysteries. They generally aren't written in pursuit of a spot on the bestseller list; rather, cozies are written to give the reader a sense of comfort and calm (ironically, by way of murder).
My mom read cozies to escape her three eccentric young daughters and grumpy husband: one daughter, the artist, painted five-foot tall green flowers on the side of the freshly painted rental when she was four; the adventurous daughter asked which way north was, and was found by neighbors five hours later walking up the beach, wearing a backpack, in pursuit of Santa in the North Pole (we lived on an island--she wasn't the brightest of the three of us); and the oldest daughter (that would be I) caused her first-year kindergarten teacher to quit by demanding that all classroom toy soldiers and toy weapons be removed from the classroom so that her classmates would not become violent adults, and that the teacher immediately stop smoking on her breaks because she would surely die of lung cancer. As to my mother's husband, he had some strange notion that feeding 40 stray cats, a stray goat, a duck, and 4 turtles (not stray) out of a 2-bedroom apartment was odd. He also became irrationally upset when the cat gave birth in his shoe. So you see, for my mother, it was either read a cozy or drink (or possibly dispose of the children and husband).
Years later, when my grandmother came to live with us (bigger house, different country, revolving pet door, dad retired and usually lost in Best Buy, girls now goth, theater geek, and raver) we slowly replaced her true crime books with cozies in order to keep her from roaming the house at night after taking her pain pills, looking for the Son of Sam whilst armed with a shoe horn.
And all this is how I came to read cozies myself, because they were always there to help me escape my crazy family, you could carry on a screaming match with a sibling and not miss much in the book, and thanks to grandma's Dahmer intervention, there were always a shitload in the house. (Serious reading was done away from the insane people.)
October 6, 2020
A pretty standard cozy mystery
February 4, 2016
When Judith McMonigle Flynn agreed to go with her sister on the maiden run of the Toujours La Tour guided tour of her hometown, she didn't expect her B&B to be the first stop. After listening to the guide go on about murder and mayhem having occured there, discovering the corpse of an exorcist at the second stop really got things off to a roar.
A dead exorcist, a found treasure and another dead body found in the walls of the 100 year old Alhambra Arms, which is currently under renovation, looks to be three separate mysteries...or are they all related? Judith is out to solve them with the help of her cousin Renie. Well, she is trying to solve the body in the wall mystery while her husband works on solving the exocist's murder. Meanwhile Judith can't help but feel that there is more than meets the eye and all things are related.
A fun read from the cozy genre, there are twists, turns and red herrings that can keep you guessing, and laughing as you enjoy your read.
A dead exorcist, a found treasure and another dead body found in the walls of the 100 year old Alhambra Arms, which is currently under renovation, looks to be three separate mysteries...or are they all related? Judith is out to solve them with the help of her cousin Renie. Well, she is trying to solve the body in the wall mystery while her husband works on solving the exocist's murder. Meanwhile Judith can't help but feel that there is more than meets the eye and all things are related.
A fun read from the cozy genre, there are twists, turns and red herrings that can keep you guessing, and laughing as you enjoy your read.
January 17, 2013
I love these Bed and Breakfast mysteries, the two leads are a hoot and half with how they interact. And the variety of people they encounter can be so bizarre yet realistic at the same time. We all meet interesting characters in our daily lives, but we just don't always find out more about that them.
In this one, our protagonists Judith and Renie wind up working on 2 mysterious deaths. One from 40 years ago and one that they stumbled upon while on a tour. It's intriguing to see how the author intertwines the two events to make sense and all the twists and turns that lead up to the answer. Just like life, we can wind up following a number of red herrings or misinterpret information we get. These books actually sometimes help me think about that and how to sort through what I think I know as opposed to what I actually do know.
Definitely a fun read.
In this one, our protagonists Judith and Renie wind up working on 2 mysterious deaths. One from 40 years ago and one that they stumbled upon while on a tour. It's intriguing to see how the author intertwines the two events to make sense and all the twists and turns that lead up to the answer. Just like life, we can wind up following a number of red herrings or misinterpret information we get. These books actually sometimes help me think about that and how to sort through what I think I know as opposed to what I actually do know.
Definitely a fun read.
September 23, 2007
TITLE/AUTHOR: A STREETCAR NAMED EXPIRE by Mary Daheim
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Mystery, 2001, 296 pgs
TIME/PLACE: 1990's, Washington
CHARACTERS: Judith Flynn/B&B owner; Renie Jones/cousin -- graphic designer
COMMENTS: Another humorous entry in the B&B series. The Alhambra Arms is being renovated -- converting apts to condos. During the rehab a body is discovered between walls, treasure buried in the floor and the exorcist for the bad kharma is found shot on site. Judith's husband Joe is hired to look into the present day murder. Meanwhile, Judith & Renie delve into the past.
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Mystery, 2001, 296 pgs
TIME/PLACE: 1990's, Washington
CHARACTERS: Judith Flynn/B&B owner; Renie Jones/cousin -- graphic designer
COMMENTS: Another humorous entry in the B&B series. The Alhambra Arms is being renovated -- converting apts to condos. During the rehab a body is discovered between walls, treasure buried in the floor and the exorcist for the bad kharma is found shot on site. Judith's husband Joe is hired to look into the present day murder. Meanwhile, Judith & Renie delve into the past.
June 1, 2009
Judith Flynn takes a mystery tour of her hometown, and is shocked when her bed-and-breakfast inn is one of the attractions. Determined to demand that the tour operator apologize, she gets off at the next stop--an apartment building, now being converted to condos, in which a murder took place--and finds another victim. Her husband Joe is hired to investigate the new murder, but Judith concentrates on the fifty-year-old case, interviewing people who lived in the apartments then, and people who remember them, only to find an unexpected connection between the two murders.
March 1, 2013
On a murder mystery tour That Judith didn't even want to participate in,the girls come across a dead body in an underconstruction condo block. Joe , working as a PI, is investigating and Judith believes that some stolen jewels are related to the murder. Joe "lets" Judith investigate the jewel theft thinking it will keep her out of his investigation. Well, we know who actually solves the crime don't we?
April 2, 2013
First there were five rooms in the B&B. Then, there were six. Now there are eight? Really? What did they do? Chop two more rooms up? Editing is a lost art.
The storyline was okay. Not all the clues to figure it out yourself. This book sets up nicely for the next in the series, which actually is the first book I read by Mart Daheim. I then decided I better start from the beginning of the series to make heads or tails of the characters. It definitely helps to read these books in order!
The storyline was okay. Not all the clues to figure it out yourself. This book sets up nicely for the next in the series, which actually is the first book I read by Mart Daheim. I then decided I better start from the beginning of the series to make heads or tails of the characters. It definitely helps to read these books in order!
April 21, 2009
Another enjoyable Judith McMonigle Flynn cozy mystery. It's a wonder that Judy manages to run her bed and breakfast what with always getting involved in murder. Her cousin Renie's graphic business must suffer, too, as she's usually dragged along. Good plot and character development, although I think this one went on a little longer than necessary.
February 9, 2014
I enjoyed this cozy very much. The plot was clever, weaving a past murder with a current one and involving interesting characters. The ending was very funny, echoing the end of the action movie Renie references at one point. And there's an ostrich!
April 5, 2007
Not my favorite of hers but ok
May 24, 2010
One of the more entertaining Bed and Breakfast mysteries. All kinds of twists and turns in the plot. This series gets better with each book. And, ya gotta love how Judith and Serena work together.
February 28, 2011
I'm on a roll in reading these mysteries. I'm hooked I guess, or addicted, your choice - but I am now into the next book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews