Customer Reviews

Innkeeping With Murder

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book leans heavily on the cliched location and has virtually no story. It isn't very good. I don't recommend it.

I love mysteries--too bad this isn't one. The plot is extremely thin and there are no unusual plot twists that you would normally find in most good mysteries. I figured out who the murderer and the weapon was before page 50 (of a 200 page book). Even the romantic part was predictable. Don't waste your money!

Save your money. Kind of interesting but the motive for the murders is not very believable.

It sounded like a good idea for a book, and I'm sure there's an author out there somewhere who could do something with the premise of an innkeeper solving mysteries, but it's not this author and it's not this book.

The characters are weak. The protagonist is an innkeeper, but he never does ANYTHING to do with the job. He looked at the furnace twice and called the repairman, and once he spent some time doing bookwork. You never see any other aspect of the work he does (doesn't) do. The maid does everything that needs to be done, and this is why we see him 1. taking walks 2. driving to town for dinner (kind of like the old TV program 'Bonanza' from the 1960's---remember how the Cartwrights were either sitting down to eat dinner or driving the wagon into town? They never did any ranch work) and 3. mooning over how much he loves his land and how it's just terrible he's going to lose it because the inn isn't making money. Well, he could get a job because he's certainly not working at this one. For all the build up about a unique inn situation, the guy might as well be a greeter at Wal-mart for the atmosphere it lends to the book.

And the writing is amateurish. There were a couple of "smiled softly"s in the first 20 or so pages, and by the time I'd gotten to the low 90's there had been a couple more. And maybe at least one "smiled gently". Ye gods! The way sentences are used slows the pace down to a plod. Go read the excerpt and you'll see it. It's writing on the level for elementary school
students. And if that's not enough for you, the murderer was ridiculously inappropriate for the role. I can't say anymore without giving it away, but the person in real life would never have done it. So it's not real life, you say? True, but if you are just going to pick someone out of a hat and "make" them the murderer in a book, why should any of us read the book? There have to be solid reasons for what happens. This was a case of trying to make a twist to the end of the book and it fell flat because it just doesn't work. The whole book is doesn't work. Save your money and your time on this one. I'd have given it zero stars except the lowest that's allowed is one star.

The first in a quirky new mystery series featuring innkeeper Alex Winston & his island lighthouse getaway.

Alex Winston is trying his best to keep the family inn running. But his job gets harder when one of his guests is murdered at the top of the lighthouse and his maid quits. Hiring Elise on the spot, he focuses on finding out who killed Reg, who was also a good friend. But when further accidents start happening, Alex begins to wonder if he can keep the inn afloat. Is it even worth it to try? Who is behind everything? And what about his relationship with Elise?

This book marks the debut of the Lighthouse Inn series. Alex and Elise are great sympathetic characters and I'm looking forward to seeing them again in further books. I also enjoyed meeting the locals and hope to see them again. The plot started out a little slowly but picked up speed as it went and finished with a bang. Probably the biggest problem was the setting. It, too, wasn't nearly as developed as it could have been until later in the book. But these flaws weren't big enough to detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

Tim Myers has started what promises to be a fun cozy series. I look forward to reading the further happenings at Hatteras West Inn.

INNKEEPING WITH MURDER/ Tim Myers/Berkley Prime Crime Paperback/ Series mystery.
Alex Winston has always loed the lighthouse and turning it into an Inn seemed logical. He grew up around the lighthouse and wants to stay. this at tiems seems impossible with all the things wrong with the lighthouse but just as Alex decids to try and make the best of it.
Murder happens and he mourns for the man it happens to. this means that Alex doesn't need all hsi guest checking out at once and the pretty housekeeper he has hired is becoming most helpful so Alex puts his thinking cap on and his sleuthing skills to work before another person dies at his lighthouse.
Alex is a sleuth that everyone needs and this is a homespun mystery that is comfortable along with being a page turner for Tim Myers knows lighthouses, murder and mayhem and he pens all three very well. this an exceptional book penend by exceptional talent.
Pamela James-reviewer

I read this one at the recommendation of a local reader. I give LIGHTHOUSE two stars because my familiarity with this genre is limited and my expectations for quality perhaps misplaced.

Unfortunately, halfway through the text, the writer had still failed to create a concrete believable setting for the story. This should be a minimum expectation for any work of fiction. Even the allegedly developed characters are hopelessly flat. The dialogue is awkward and rarely reveals anything about the characters except that they are dull.

It was only with great determination that I finished this vague little book, which did at least present the occasion for some of the worst similes ever set to mass market ink.

I love lighthouses, and I was intrigued by the premise of the book, but the execution (no pun intended) left something to be desired. The potential is there, with setting and characters, but the promise is not realized. I found the writing stilted and dull and aimed at a (at most) sixth-grade reading level. You would be hardpressed to find a compound sentence in this book. There were some inane observations in this book, including the observation that the cafe was "surprisingly deserted between breakfast and lunch." Wouldn't it obviously be so? It seems nitpicky, but these things add up.

I liked it enough to see if the second in the series is an improvement.

INNKEEPING WITH MURDER smokes. This mystery is the debut novel in the Lighthouse Inn Mystery series by Tim Myers. Myers is a writer to watch as this series unfolds. INNKEEPING takes place at an inn in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Myers nailed the setting perfectly. I enjoyed his Alex Winston character as well as his supporting cast. INNKEEPING is a cozy mystery, and Myers is an important new voice in this field.