A Death at Bay View Hotel

The book opens with a flaming row between Jem and Rhys. Words are said, and Jem leaves to stay with her best friend Pauley. Pauley is off to another of the Scilly Isles to emcee the annual bake-off at the luxurious Bay View Hotel, and she persuades Jem to tag along.

One Lemmy Beaglehole (what a name!) is this year's judge, and he is a piece of work. He's pretty well universally disliked, and when he drops dead after tasting the first contest entry, it's a shock. You kind of get the feeling no one really mourned his passing, though.

Problem is, no one – contestants and vacationers alike – is getting out of the Bay View with a hurricane blowing in. Sergeant Hackman is on the scene, but an unfortunate allergic reaction has taken him out of commission, so it falls to Jem to sort things out. The more she digs, the more people she finds who have reason to dislike Lemmy. But which of them disliked him enough to kill him?

This is an engaging treatment of the classic locked-room mystery. Jameson gives us a varied cast of characters with a lot of different bones to pick with Lemmy Beaglehole. Lemmy's vicious words have been directed against Jem's friend Micki, local baker Trevor, and a host of other people. Jem must consider that perhaps someone she knows and is fond of could be the killer.

Jameson draws vivid pictures with her words. This character description was one of my favorites: “Posh was Madonna if she'd held on to her eighties Material Girl persona right through to midlife.” That immediately brings to mind an image for an '80s kid like me!

The mystery was twisty enough to keep me guessing. The setting made me want to visit (except sometime when there's not a hurricane). There were some tense moments when Jem put herself in harm's way in the course of the story. The banter was charming as always. My only disappointment was that there were no cake recipes included. Alas. Ah well, we can't have everything, can we? Another win for Emma Jameson and Jemima Jago!