Death at Breakfast Lib/E: (1 Maggie Detweiler and Hope Babbin Series Lib/E)

From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Still Missing, More Than You Know, and Gossip comes the first entry in a stylish and witty mystery series featuring a pair of unlikely investigators--a shrewd novel of manners with a dark heart of murder at its center, set in small-town New England. Indulging their pleasure in travel and new experiences, recently retired private school head Maggie Detweiler and her old friend, socialite Hope Babbin, are heading to Maine. The trip--to attend a weeklong master cooking class at the picturesque Victorian-era Oquossoc Mountain Inn--is an experiment to test their compatibility for future expeditions. Hope and Maggie have barely finished their first aperitifs when the inn's tranquility is shattered by the arrival of Alexander and Lisa Antippas and Lisa's actress sister, Glory. Imperious and rude, these Hollywood one-percenters quickly turn the inn upside-down with their demanding behavior, igniting a flurry of speculation and gossip among staff and guests alike. But the disruption soon turns deadly. After a suspicious late-night fire is brought under control, Alex's charred body is found in the ashes. Enter the town's deputy sheriff, Buster Babbin, Hope's long-estranged son and Maggie's former student. A man who's finally found his footing in life, Buster needs a win. But he's quickly pushed aside by the "big boys," senior law enforcement and high-powered state's attorneys who swoop in to make a quick arrest. Maggie knows that Buster has his deficits and his strengths. She also knows that justice does not always prevail--and that the difference between conviction and exoneration too often depends on lazy police work and the ambitions of prosecutors. She knows too, after a lifetime of observing human nature, that you have a great advantage in doing the right thing if you don't care who gets the credit or whom you annoy. Feeling that justice could use a helping hand--as could the deputy sheriff--Maggie and Hope decide that two women of experience equipped with healthy curiosity, plenty of common sense, and a cheerfully cynical sense of humor have a useful role to play in uncovering the truth.

About the Author :
Beth Gutcheon is the critically acclaimed author of the novels, The New Girls, Still Missing, Domestic Pleasures, Saying Grace, Five Fortunes, More Than You Know, Leeway Cottage, and Good-bye and Amen. She is the writer of several film scripts, including the Academy-Award nominee The Children of Theatre Street. She lives in New York City. Cynthia Darlow's unusual voice makes her devotion to the spoken arts a natural fit. As a narrator and veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater, film, and television, her characterizations and facility with dialects are unforgettable. Her audiobook narrations have earned her seven AudioFile Earphones Awards. She is a member of The Actors Company Theatre (TACT), whose mission it is to present concert performances of long-neglected, language-driven plays.

Review :
"Death at Breakfast [is a] sly mystery...Everything Beth Gutcheon touches turns into an elixir that says, 'Read me!'" -- "Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author" "[A] convivial...series launch...[for] cozy fans." -- "Publishers Weekly" "Cynthia Darlow performs this whodunit with confidence and ease. She skillfully delivers a New England accent and moves gracefully between the aging protagonists and a cast of characters as colorful as the region's fall foliage. Darlow is attuned to Gutcheon's gentle humor, and she expertly emphasizes the audiobook's rich atmosphere--from aromas in the kitchen to the peaceful small-town setting. It's a fun listen, especially for those who enjoy a good puzzle." -- "AudioFile" "Gutcheon provides her sleuthing duo with a range of folks to investigate and threads to follow, from the Hamptons to Hollywood...Verdict: Gutcheon here launches a new series of traditional cozies headed by an entertaining, delightfully mismatched pair of amateur sleuths, and their future could be very bright." -- "Booklist" "Two old friends decide to try vacationing together with a trip to Maine and find themselves jump-starting their amateur sleuthing careers...Alternating between solving a jigsaw puzzle and digging into their fellow lodgers' back stories, Hope and Maggie put the pieces together in more ways than one." -- "Kirkus Reviews"