Getaway With Murder by Diane Kelly

Series Name: Mountain Lodge Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: October 26, 2021

Getaway With Murder is the first in a brand new cozy series from Diane Kelly set in a lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where secrets hide behind every hill.

As if hitting the half-century mark wasn’t enough, Misty Murphy celebrated her landmark birthday by amicably ending her marriage and investing her settlement in a dilapidated mountain lodge at the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With the old inn teetering on both a bluff and bankruptcy, she must have lost her ever-loving mind.

Luckily, handyman Rocky Crowder has a knack for rehabbing virtual ruins and for doing it on a dime, and to Misty’s delight, the lodge is fully booked on opening night, every room filled with flexible folks who’d slipped into spandex and ascended the peak for a yoga retreat with plans to namaste for a full week. Misty and her guests are feeling zen—at least until the yoga instructor is found dead.

With a killer on the loose and the lodge’s reputation hanging in the balance, Misty must put her detective-skills to the test. Only one thing is as clear as a sunny mountain morning—she must solve the crime before the lodge ends up, once again, on the brink.

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Dru’s Short Musing:
This is another great debut series from Diane Kelly. The protagonist is a recently divorced woman who opens her own lodge and with her first group, mischief and mayhem ensues when a murder is committed and one of the people in the lodge is guilty of the crime.

I enjoyed this well-crafted whodunit that grabbed my attention immediately. The author did a great job in staging this mystery with an exuberant cast of characters that kept me immersed in all aspect as the murder occurred off the page, but it was the opportunities that presented itself where motive was rampant among everyone. With visually descriptive narrative, the lodge came alive putting me in the middle of all the action. The dialogue was engaging, especially the ones between Misty and Rocky. The pacing was on par with how well this story was being told. When I thought I was on the right path to solving this puzzle, the author threw in a monkey wrench that gave me pause, which ratcheted the suspense that kept this mystery intriguing. Overall, a terrific addition to the cozy genre and I look forward to the next book in this delightfully charming new series.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.