The Alpine Nemesis [Mass Market Paperback]

It was bad enough when he scooped her on the disappearance of snowboarded Brian Conley several months before, but now it looks like he was going to do it on the biggest story to hit Alpine.

The three O'Neill brothers, Stubby, Rusty & Dusty are found dead in the freezer at Alpine Meats. Each of them shot.

Sheriff Milo Dodge suspects it might be their nemesis's the Harquist family. Their feud goes back years and started out with the flattening of the families pet goat.

But, it's while Emma's new reporter, Scott Chamoud starts shooting the crime scene the he wonders why there are four pairs of legs instead of three.

Shocking everyone was the discovery of the missing snowboarder, Brian Conley under the pile of bodies. Then the coroner says he had been stabbed to death and had been dead for several months. Where had he been all this time and how did he get into the meat locker? (Emma was pretty sure he didn't walk there.)

A lot of other strange things are happening in Alpine.

Milo discovery that the O'Neill's had an arsenal of weapons, including rocket launchers and grenades.

Brian's body is shipped back East to his family, but when the coffin gets there, the body is missing.

And why does everyone who dies recently suddenly want to be buried in Ireland?

Working together Milo and Emma solve the murder of the O'Neill's. But still aren't sure what happened to Brian.

Meanwhile, Tom Cavanaugh demands an answer from Emma and she finally says yes, she will marry him. They're riding on top of the Advocate float in the summer solstice parade when tragedy stikes.

The ending of this book was very difficult. I wouldn't normally say what happened, but it's already included in other reviews here, so if you don't want to know what happened, DON'T READ ANY FURTHER.

Tom Cavanaugh, is the father of Emma's son Adam. Tom married Sandra for her money and had an affair with Emma, got both women pregnant and stayed with Sandra. He didn't see Emma for the next 18 years. I've always disliked this character and I have really torn into him in my earlier reviews. Tom has asked Emma to marry him three differnt times and had dumped her each time. This was the fourth.

I've been dreading it, but I wanted Emma to realize that she wasn't really in love with Tom, but was living with a memory, in the almost 30 years, Emma & Tom probably only spent about 6 months together, (I'm not sure how long their original affair lasted, but the other two times were only a couple days each).

Emma has always had more chemistry with Milo Dodge than she has ever had with Tom. Heck, she has more chemistry with her ad manger Leo Walsh than she had with Tom.

The fact that he ends up dead and was a criminal (Running Guns To Ireland for the IRA is illegal) only makes it worse. Emma will probably never get over this, will go on wasting her life, just as she has for the past 30 years. Tom is now the dead lover who will be perfect.

I'm getting ready to read the Alpine Obituary and have just ordered the next one in the series. Had to spend the big bucks on a hard cover copy instead of the paperback. Couldn't wait for the paperback version to come out.

The only thing saving Nemesis is the actual mystery. This is definitely one of the best stories Mary Daheim has written for this series. The clues that were found throughout the book made it difficult to put down. Also, it was nice to have back some of the humor that has been missing in the last couple books.

Emma's love life is one of my favorite aspects to this series. But in Nemesis, I thought I was reading a Harlequin book. As one other reviewer suggested, I would have preffered a different ending. A semi-original one perhaps? All I have to say is, Jackie O? Please Mrs. Daheim, let's move on from St. Tom!

I definitely suggest this book to Alpine devotees. The sleuthing is one of the best yet in this series. Entertaining and baffling. Also, there are a lot of important glimpses into the characters we have all grown to love AND hate. I would rate Nemesis higher if it were not for the teeny-bopper romance and violent unrealistic ending.