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Dusky Cove B&B #1

Inn Over Her Head

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Lori Keyes is ready to show some Southern hospitality as the new owner of a B&B—until her first guest winds up dead. Lori Keyes is excited to settle into her perfect new a bed and breakfast owner in the sleepy resort town of Dusky Cove, North Carolina. Sure, her first guest is a little rude and hateful, but that just comes with the hospitality territory sometimes, right? Lori steels herself to endure one bad guest—until that guest turns up dead. The police investigation says it’s murder, and the evidence points to Lori. She’s instantly the prime suspect. Lori digs into the guest’s failing marriage and into rivalries in town, trying to figure out who could have killed her. To keep her dream job, her perfect life and the inn over her head, Lori will have to prove that she’s innocent—or she’ll go to jail for a murder she didn’t commit. A new cozy mystery series set in a Southern small town, featuring a historic inn! Read more of the Dusky Cove B&B Cozy Mystery 1. Inn Over Her Head 2. Inn Trouble 3. Inn Vain 4. Inn Dire Straits 5. Inn Danger (early 2019) Get recipes and a tourist's guide to the prettiest little town all up and down the North Carolina coast in the author's email group--offer inside!

175 pages, ebook

Published January 27, 2018

1428 people are currently reading
720 people want to read

About the author

Dixie Davis

10 books15 followers
Also known as Dixie R. Davis, Di Davis, and Diana Davis

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5 stars
341 (33%)
4 stars
317 (31%)
3 stars
253 (25%)
2 stars
78 (7%)
1 star
21 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
Profile Image for Brenda.
5,096 reviews3,023 followers
October 22, 2021
Lori Keyes had just bought the local B&B in Dusky Cove, North Carolina and was awaiting the arrival of her first guest. She was nervous and excited. But when Dawn arrived, Lori hoped not all her guests would be so rude and grumpy, finding fault with everything Lori had done. After a couple of nights, Dawn was due to check out – but she hadn’t appeared from her room. Mitch had arrived to do some repairs for her, so Lori had him wait while she knocked and went in. To her horror, Dawn was on the floor of the bathroom, dead.

When the local police chief arrested Lori for Dawn’s murder, she and her boyfriend Joey did some investigating of their own. Finding out details about Dawn’s life, a soon to be ex-husband, along with other town people who Lori put on her suspect list, she was no further ahead. Would she work out who the killer was, or would she end up in jail for a crime she didn’t commit?

Inn Over Her Head is the 1st in the Dusky Cove B&B series by Dixie Davis and unfortunately, I worked out who the killer was very early in the piece. It was really obvious! I kept telling Lori who it was, but she didn’t listen!! A light cosy mystery with some good characters – Ray and Mitch I liked. But there weren’t a lot of likeable ones either. But the cover is cute, and the plot line wasn't bad, just not executed well. Not sure if I’ll continue the series at this stage.
Profile Image for ShannaBanana✨.
548 reviews40 followers
July 23, 2022
I gave this 5 stars cause I really did enjoy it and I loved the MC, Lori. I also really like Mitch. Our local handyman and professor! Ok. So, the negative is the culprit was obvious from the start. There was no mystery cause that was already a given. It was ridiculously predictable. Fingers crossed the next book leaves us guessing for a while!
590 reviews2 followers
September 12, 2018
Too obvious

The plot could have been a good one but the murderer was too obvious. There really was not a well-thought-out mystery.
315 reviews1 follower
August 15, 2020
Awesome cozy mystery

I enjoyed reading this book! It kept my interest to the end. I suspected the who done it about half way through but still with Mysteries one never knows what twists and turns you will end up with by the last page. Thanks for a good read!!
496 reviews11 followers
January 11, 2020
Cozy Mystery

Rating: 3.5 stars

What I found interesting and my thoughts on this book:

• I liked the main character Lori very much. She had a good heart, and listened and cared about others. Unfortunately, she was gullible and saw the best in everyone. This made her a poor detective.

• The storyline had good pacing and the book flowed smoothly.

• There were many characters in this story which could have been the murderer. Unfortunately, when I was one fourth of the way through the book I knew who the murderer was. Because of this, I found this book not as enjoyable as it could have been.

• The secondary players in this story were varied, well developed, and interesting. They added depth to the storyline.

• I loved the ending and I am looking forward to reading the next novel. I am hoping the next mystery will be harder to solve.
Profile Image for Nola Arganbright.
1,592 reviews32 followers
April 21, 2020
Inn for two.

A good cozy read with a good but easily figured plot. The writing was excellent and good characters but just too easy to discern the murderer early in the book.
595 reviews15 followers
March 27, 2022
This book started enjoyable enough. As I continued the main character began to get on my nerves, she seemed too clueless, but that is just my opinion. The rest of the characters were enjoyable enough but the mystery I figured pretty quickly.
Profile Image for Tari.
3,654 reviews103 followers
June 5, 2021
Lori was a likable enough main character, but I think she used her heart too much instead of her head. I started suspecting whodunit before I was halfway through, and that's always the point that if the main character doesn't share that suspicion, as a reader you're dying to go poke them on the shoulder and ask for a time out to talk, lol.

The two characters who really stood out to me as really likable were Ray and Mitch. I want to keep going in the series, because I want to know Mitch's story. He and the police chief had some type of grudge going, and whatever the eight-year reference was about, it got me curious. After the reveal and Lori being indisposed from the showdown, I was surprised at who was holding down the fort at the B&B for her. Maybe there's hope for some unlikable characters sometimes.
Profile Image for Margaret.
398 reviews14 followers
May 22, 2020
I liked the premise of this, an older woman on her own, starting up her dream job. There were a lot of misunderstandings and events that caused confusion for all, but ( of course) it all worked out in the end. I like the MC, even though she is a bit gullible (naive? sheltered?) but that should smooth out as the stories continue
Profile Image for Nadishka Aloysius.
Author 25 books72 followers
August 10, 2020
I decided to try this book because I'm writing a cozy mystery myself and this is research. It was also free on Amazon. And the cover is lovely.
Unfortunately, the murderer was obvious from the beginning and the protagonist came across as rather stupid for not having figured it out sooner!
Profile Image for Carys.
81 reviews20 followers
March 31, 2021
The last 10 pages were somewhat worth it, however, you can guess immediately who it was and it took so much effort to get through it despite it being so short. This book made me want to DNF but i just cant seem to quit without feeling guilty.
Profile Image for Ro.
188 reviews1 follower
September 13, 2020
Good entertaining cozy mystery. Figured out who was the murderer half way through the book but a good interesting mystery overall.
Profile Image for Nikki.
1,423 reviews12 followers
February 6, 2021
A new to me author and cozy mystery series, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to reading more in this series.

Set in a small town in America, in an old house which is now a B&B and it's main character is the owner and manager Lori.

In the 1st book we see a rather argumentative guest at the Inn found dead, and Lori is the main suspect. She has no option but to try and find who did actually murder her 1st guest!

I've already downloaded the next few books and will be eagerly reading these over the next few days. I do like to find new series of books to read!
149 reviews2 followers
April 17, 2021
Great story says it all!

Wow! you know how to hook a reader into your story.It was so entertaining from the beginning to end.Thanks for sharing it with me keep them coming and I hope to read them all.
Profile Image for Lise.
1,071 reviews
August 8, 2020
As the new owner of a B&B in Dusky Cove, Lori is all set to make a go of a fresh opportunity. She's changed some of the decors, put her spin on the breakfast menu and prepared for her very first guest. But when that guest turns out to be first of all, unpleasant, and then dead, things take a turn for the worse.

I figured out the murderer (as I see many people did and now I don't feel quite so smart) fairly quickly. I spent the majority of the book in a strange Vaudeville Pantomine state as I frequently told the heroine, "Look! Behind you!" Normally, this would be a horrendous situation and would spoil the story, but in this case Inn Over Her Head was so well-written I kept getting distracted. Distracted by the engaging characters who all had their own voices and distracted by the scenery and setting which sounded remarkable. I was ready to book my own trip. Maybe not to stay at that B&B but a nice hotel in the area.

I felt for Lori. I absolutely did. She's on her own, attempting a very risky endeavour and all the preparation in the world wouldn't have saved her from the position she found herself in. That's the magic of the writing here because you do feel for her. You're a touch irritated that she can't see what's in front of her, but you understand because, honestly, in real-life who expects that.

Generous setups for future stories happen throughout the novel. Many of the side characters have very original backgrounds that beg to be told. I hope Dixie Davis pursues them. I'm going to be beside Lori all the way.
Profile Image for Lisa Denn.
510 reviews2 followers
May 9, 2020
Inn Over Her Head, which I received an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from the author to read and review, launches Dixie Davis' Dusky Cove B&B Cozy Mystery Series.

I enjoyed the book but was disappointed in both the slow pace of the book and the realization early on in the book - really early on in the book - as to which character was responsible for the criminal activities taking place at the Mayweather House in Dusky Cove. I would have enjoyed the book more if the plot was not so easy to unravel.

The characters came across as exaggerated stereotypes to me. There were times in the story where I felt the characters were responding vus dialogue or behavior to the plot instead of telling the story.

I had a hard time connecting with them due to these exaggerations. For example, the school day rivalry between Mitch, the town's handyman and Dusky Cove's Chief Of Police Chip Branson seemed to easy a subplot for adding a bit of tension between the characters. Not exactly an original concept nor did their relationship have a direct bearing on the story.

With that said, I think there is a lot of potential for the series. I can see many avenues that can be explored in terms of character development. The town too has many opportunities for future mysteries.

I do hope in future books Davis' amateur sleuth Lori Keyes is given both a bit of a backbone and A LOT more confidence. The "damsel in distress" stereotype often seen in this genre rarely excites me.
51 reviews1 follower
September 30, 2020
Cozy Sweet Read

I loved it and couldn't put it down. It's the perfect story of small town America with a twist of intrigue. Love gone wrong.
Profile Image for Ravenous eReader Book Blog .
37 reviews6 followers
April 19, 2020
The last time I read a cozy mystery was WAY back in the seventh grade. The school's library had a fiction/mystery section where I always went to pick out a story for a book report in my English class. Since then nothing has changed--I've always enjoyed a good mystery/suspense novel.

After years of reading 'the hard stuff', I'd forgotten what a clean mystery was like. This was a refreshing rewind...a good little read.

Now, this story had a slow beginning, but there were a lot of good things about this book. Thankfully, it wasn't too long...nor too short. There was no foul language or adult situations. I would feel okay about my own kids reading this book.

The real murderer wasn't blatantly obvious...the author did a nice job painting reasonable suspicion on each character in question. But thanks to my Agatha Christie binge reading, I was able to pin point the killer early on because the guilty party is always the very last person to suspect. A well written mystery will always have this quality.

The book was well plotted out and there were no grammar/spelling issues. A few phrases didn't really gel well, or at least I didn't think they fit within the context of the sentence. And I had to look up the word Oy. I'd never seen or heard of this word (if it's actually a word). At first I thought it was a typo, but the dictionary said Oy was an expression of surprise or frustration. Who knew?

RATING: Extra Cup of Regular 3 1/2 stars
I did want to keep reading. I do recommend to readers of mystery.
3,084 reviews13 followers
September 13, 2020
A nice, fast read - well written but, unfortunately, let down a bit by the plotting (or lack of it). Still, it helped pass a few hours. If you are looking for a quick, non-challenging read with a happy ending - this won't let you down.
There are lots of cosy mysteries, many of them using an almost identical formula, but the formula alone is not enough to produce more than a run of the mill book. What's needed to raise the stakes? Deepen your characters, think outside the box in terms of the 'why' and the 'who'. Make the area come alive, make it live in the minds of readers.
I've recently been reading the Tubby Dubonnet series by Tony Dunbar - it's set in New Orleans - and, during the course of one review noted that "I could read a book solely concerned with Tubby eating his way around the city."
I'll be coming back to Tubby over the years, Dusty Cove not so likely.
23 reviews3 followers
March 10, 2020
Inn Over her Head Lori is a new B&B owner in Dusky Cove NC. Her first customer turns out to be challenging to say the least. Lori tried to get on her good side by making her a treat but that doesn’t bode well for Lori.
I liked the main character Lori. I liked the supporting characters and I will say I hope Mitch turns out to be a love interest. I think the story was well thought out and put together. I would have liked more common sense about Loris investigations. I think she was a little “blind” and portrayed as dumb about what was going on in front of her.
But overall I liked the book and hope as the series continues Lori shows her intelligence and the B&B has more to do with the story
Profile Image for Trick Wiley.
961 reviews5 followers
March 22, 2020
What a murder mystery this story turned out to be! It kinda started out slow for me but it's a great story,a story that can be read in a few days. This poor woman,all she wants to do is get her life back together after her husband dies and she buys this B&B in a small town and the next thing she knows she has a boyfriend who is younger than her,wants to marry really quickly,a guest dies in her B&B and then finds herself in jail! Such luck! The plot is great,with all the kinky towns people who don't give her a break at all!! You will love the town's people,you will find yourself trying to figure out when the murderer had time to get into her inn and kill the guest and out again and then she thinks maybe I did do this? You will not expect who did it!Loved the ending!
Profile Image for Krystyna.
5,134 reviews55 followers
May 21, 2018
Haste can be fatal

A good solid cozy but the culprit was a little too obvious. She has used the last of her money to buy the B & B. Now it is all hers plus she has a young beau that is smitten with her even if he is more than a decade younger than her. Her first guest however is found dead and she is arrested for the murder. Can she clear her name and find the real killer? She is a gullible, naive middle aged widow. The heros are handsome and organised. But which one will she pick? The plot is well crafted but too obvious and I must admit I did want to take the heroine and shake some sense into her.
411 reviews
May 19, 2020
2.5 stars. Well as I received a free copy for my opinion, here goes... I knew who dunnit shortly after meeting the culprit. The character's behavior was so out of the realm of reality and then there was an about face far too early in the story for this character not to have been the one. Well, I was right. I kept reading because I really don't like to stop a book once I've begun. The main character walks around with blinders on and as a mother of college aged sons and a career woman, you'd think she'd have been more aware. I get so frustrated with stories where being a nice woman means oblivious and unable to do anything without a man.
Profile Image for Michelle Palmer.
490 reviews4 followers
September 29, 2020
Lori Keyes, a widowed woman in her early 50's moves to Dusty Cove and buys a B&B.
She seems to make enemies immediately with the previous owners sister who blames her for her sister leaving. Lori has been seeing a guy about 12 years younger than her and he seems quick to propose and set a wedding date.
Lori finally has her opening day but mayhem is all around with her first guest being murdered and Lori is the key suspect. Enemies and unlikely friends are all eager to help either clear her or point a finger at her. She must prove her innocence before she losses everything she has worked hard for.
Profile Image for Madison.
1 review
September 27, 2023
Do NOT let my review stop you from reading this book. I read it on the commute to work each day but I didn’t rush back to it on the way home. I found myself opting to play monopoly go than reading. I didn’t dislike the book but I was also not edger to finish it.

Super easy, good read but it’s super predictable. You’ll know exactly who did it within the first 25 pages or so of the book. It’s predictable and you may find yourself rolling your eyes here or there. I think some scenes or moments could have used a little more snow than tell but that’s really just a matter of opinion!

I’ll probably read the next couple of books because the generally consensus is they continue to improve.
Profile Image for Melissa.
1,191 reviews15 followers
August 18, 2019
Well named book

Lori is definitely in over her head. I understand the desire to own a B&B. My husband and I have talked about it for years, but Lori didn't quite seem ready to take on the task and all the crazy that came with it. The story was okay, but too predictable. I was frustrated so many times that she couldn't see it. The way it came to light was good and would have been great if I didn't already know who dunit. I may read more of the series just because I'm curious about a certain secondary character, but that's the only thing drawing me back.
Profile Image for Margo James.
454 reviews6 followers
January 22, 2021
Normal cozy mystery set in a beautiful historic town.

Dusky Cove has a varied history dating back to the 16 hundreds. A lot of the original houses from as early as 1775 are still standing and being used. Remarkable for anywhere, but especially NC where the weather does more damage to structures than humans do. The inn sounds delightful, even if fictional. The story was good, if transparent, and the murder was artfully depicted. I want to learn more about the rivalry between Mitch and Chief Chip. Good characters to keep the saga of Dusky Cove going strong for quite a while.
Profile Image for hana.
435 reviews
August 25, 2018
Good starter for new series

Middle age Lori Keyes has been widowed for 13 years, excited to start her new life as B&B owner in tourist town of Dusky Cove, North Carolina. Her first guest not only rude, but also turn up dead and all evidence point to her. With the town's population want to run her out of business, Lori will have to prove that she’s innocent—or she’ll go to jail for a murder she didn’t commit. 
Profile Image for Debbie.
373 reviews8 followers
February 3, 2019
There were some aspects of this book that I enjoyed...the inn, the locale and the local flavour.
What I did NOT enjoy was the painfully predictable solution to the case. I found myself skipping through pages at a time because it was almost physically unbearable to me how incredibly naive and stupid Lori, the protagonist, was.
I'm going to give the next book in the series a try because I hope the next one will not be as obvious. We shall see.
Profile Image for Ann.
1,117 reviews19 followers
March 12, 2020
I enjoyed this book. A lady whose husband passed a way so she decided to buy this bed and breakfast inn in this little town. Her first guest was a complainer of everything. She made her dissatisfaction to anyone who would listen. A few days when she was to check out , nothing happened so they went up to check why and found her dead. Eventually she was charged with the murder. Lots of suspects that seemed to have done it so she has to figure it out to get out of jail.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews

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