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Cobwebs and Contraband
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by:
ISBN:
0-7414-2486-X
©2005
Price:
$15.95
Book Size:
5.5'' x 8.5''
, 246 pages
Category/Subject:
FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
What lurks unseen in the cellars of Granada Inn? A long-dead troubled monk? Throngs of smugglers? Tricky hotel employees? It’s all for Maren to work out. She’s good at that.
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Abstract:
Maren O’Connor left her family home, The Granada Inn, a year after her family was murdered. She felt like a suspect. Now her aunt, who runs the hotel, has been poisoned and she must go back to care for her. The Inn is nothing like she left it. Guests are few, employees have hidden agendas, the cellars are full of smuggled goods, an ancient ghost has begun to wander again… In addition, there is another murder. And now Maren herself begins to feel threatened. But she can’t leave, her aunt needs her. She must find out what’s going on.
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Customer Reviews
From Midwest Book Review (5/2005)
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07/05/2005
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Reviewer:
Shelley Glodowski
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Maren O'Connor has a talent for trying to help her relatives run their resorts in times of need. It isn't her fault that people begin to die just as she arrives on the scene. But when she is called by her long ago fiancé, Norman, to come back to the Granada, her family inn, she answers the call, even if it means leaving her comfortable little business in the city to help out an ailing aunt, who may or may not have been poisoned. The problem is, nine years before Maren was on a sailing trip with her parents and twin brother during which her parents died from apparent food poisoning, and her brother was washed overboard during a sudden storm as Maren tried to guide to boat back to shore. Or was he? And who is the monk who is haunting the Inn?
Maren arrives on the scene to find her aunt in a frail condition and the inn's main desk undermanned. It seems that there is a smuggling operation taking place in the inn's cellars and some very unsavory characters hanging around like wraiths. Maren's childhood friend, a cop in town, never seems to be there when she needs him, and his boss continually gives her the eye.
In her own inimitable fashion, Lana Waite hooks the reader from the first page with her fast-paced plot, quirky characters, and well-crafted writing. She has clearly outdone herself with her latest spooky whodunit, set in Grampus Island, where Granada Inn is located.
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Cobwebs and Contraband
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07/31/2005
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Reviewer:
Lana Waite
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COBWEBS AND CONTRABAND
by Lana Waite
Nine years ago Maren O'Connor went on a day-sail with her family. During the trip, both parents died of apparent food poisoning and brother, Mark, was washed overboard. Maren was viewed with suspicion by some. After a year she left the Granada Inn in Southern California and founded Sunrise Steno/Graphics in San Francisco. She settled down to a comfortable life.
Nine years after the accident, Maren receives a call from Norman, her one time fiancé, informing her that her Aunt Helen, who owns half of the Granada Inn is ill. She might have been poisoned. Maren is asked to come back and care for Aunt Helen. She leaves her business to take up her family obligations.
She finds the once flourishing resort inn a shadow of what it once was. There are few guests other than a few sinister men. The inn is "haunted" by a "monk/ghost" who seems to be on a rampage. The cellar is full of stolen goods which indicate smuggling. Norman is found dead, from a scuba diving accident. But Maren, with the help of newly recruited friend and co-worker Harriet, finds this to be a case of murder. They set out to try to find the murderer and the truth behind the events happening at the Inn, especially about the elusive "monk".
This is an old fashioned mystery genre...no adult language...no violence...no explicit sex. The characters are fully drawn, especially quirky Harriet, who is refreshing and a delight to meet. The action is fast paced. The plot is full of red herrings with the climax swift and startling.
This is a delightful read guaranteed to pass a few pleasant hours.
March 2005
Trade paperback
074142486X
Mystery
The Reviewer: Barbara Buhrer
Reviewed 2005, MyShelf.com
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