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Murder on the Mother Road
On that brilliant October day, all Libby intends is to get to Albuquerque in her sleek new motor home. On a whim she turns off the Interstate to take Route 66, the Mother Road. When she stops for coffee at an oasis of dust and rust in a desert of sand—the Knight's Rest Motel and Café—she stumbles across an old college sorority sister, her dead brother, and their assorted crazy relatives rushing in to claim the family fortune. There is yet another murder and, while Libby tries to solve the mysteries, Hazel, owner of Knight’s Rest, takes the opportunity to turn her money-losing motel into a Murder Museum, in keeping with the glory days of the famous Mother Road. Filled with delightfully off-beat characters.
- GenresMystery
192 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 2005
9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 19, 2020
“Nothing like the open road, a little time to oneself and a good mystery to solve to get one’s head straightened out about one’s love life.
Libby Merchant, a recently retired clinical psychologist, is driving her expensive Airstream RV from her home in Long Beach, California, to Albuquerque for a hot-air balloon festival attended by several of her RV buddies. On the way—and on a particularly desolate stretch of desert—she discovers Janet Witherspoon, an old sorority sister wandering in front of the only motel in many miles. It seems that Janet, who has been disabled with a recent stroke, is traveling in an RV with her brother. But when Libby tries to enlist his help with her struggling sorority sister, she finds him dead in his bed. Murdered, of course.
This is not the first murder-in-an-RV mystery I have come across. Anne Seale’s Packing Mrs. Phipps, which came out a year before Murder on the Mother Road, instantly comes to mind. And it wouldn’t have been such a bad one if the late author had not made a mistake early; that is, she introduces a character that the reader knows is a swindler—and a probable murderer—before page 100. Then she goes another 75 pages with Libby blithely thinking the man is a saint and withholding all information about him from the police. Then she wanders into a type of danger that even The Continental Op would think twice about. This wouldn’t be so bad if Libby was stupid, but she is highly intelligent.
So what about the good things in the book? Well, for one thing, the writing itself is well edited and very workmanlike. And, at least in the beginning, it has its humorous moments. And the beginning sentence is one of the best I have read: “The Knight’s Rest Motel and Café sprang from the desert floor like a pop-up greeting card.” Libby, who is recovering from a lost love, is an interesting person with a nice voice. The backstory is sufficient but not outstanding. Her questioning of various suspects resembles the way she previously analyzed her clients; an excellent and unique technique. Her treatment of RV life, too, is one that can be appreciated by both novices and aficionados.
But ultimately, Libby’s unthinking omissions (forgetting to read important papers and faxes until it is too late) and wanderings into danger add up to fatal flaws that render an otherwise decent outing into one that I can’t recommend. Give it a kind 3 stars with the realization that even if my quibbles didn’t’ exist, it wouldn’t have earned much better than a 3.5.
Note: I read the first New Victoria printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
Libby Merchant, a recently retired clinical psychologist, is driving her expensive Airstream RV from her home in Long Beach, California, to Albuquerque for a hot-air balloon festival attended by several of her RV buddies. On the way—and on a particularly desolate stretch of desert—she discovers Janet Witherspoon, an old sorority sister wandering in front of the only motel in many miles. It seems that Janet, who has been disabled with a recent stroke, is traveling in an RV with her brother. But when Libby tries to enlist his help with her struggling sorority sister, she finds him dead in his bed. Murdered, of course.
This is not the first murder-in-an-RV mystery I have come across. Anne Seale’s Packing Mrs. Phipps, which came out a year before Murder on the Mother Road, instantly comes to mind. And it wouldn’t have been such a bad one if the late author had not made a mistake early; that is, she introduces a character that the reader knows is a swindler—and a probable murderer—before page 100. Then she goes another 75 pages with Libby blithely thinking the man is a saint and withholding all information about him from the police. Then she wanders into a type of danger that even The Continental Op would think twice about. This wouldn’t be so bad if Libby was stupid, but she is highly intelligent.
So what about the good things in the book? Well, for one thing, the writing itself is well edited and very workmanlike. And, at least in the beginning, it has its humorous moments. And the beginning sentence is one of the best I have read: “The Knight’s Rest Motel and Café sprang from the desert floor like a pop-up greeting card.” Libby, who is recovering from a lost love, is an interesting person with a nice voice. The backstory is sufficient but not outstanding. Her questioning of various suspects resembles the way she previously analyzed her clients; an excellent and unique technique. Her treatment of RV life, too, is one that can be appreciated by both novices and aficionados.
But ultimately, Libby’s unthinking omissions (forgetting to read important papers and faxes until it is too late) and wanderings into danger add up to fatal flaws that render an otherwise decent outing into one that I can’t recommend. Give it a kind 3 stars with the realization that even if my quibbles didn’t’ exist, it wouldn’t have earned much better than a 3.5.
Note: I read the first New Victoria printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
Displaying 1 of 1 review