Alpine Reviews

What a great tale - the story detailing the beginnings of the ultimate ski bum! I thoroughly enjoyed Warren's recounting of his early days. While fun and light, this book communicates his passion for skiing and all it involves. My only complaint is that the book is way to short!

I saw myself on every page...Claudia has addressed every problem I've ever had in skiing and gave me answers, confidence, and a whole new attitude about ski buying. I actually improved my skiing, knowing more about my body and how it works. I recommend it for any female skier, beginner or advanced, and men should read it too, to understand how women relate to skiing.

It's winter in Alpine and the beauty of the snow-covered landscape is lessened by the discovery of a woman's leg, and eventually of another woman's dead body. Emma Lord, intrepid owner of the Alpine Advocate newspaper, is on the alert, looking for clues which will lead to the murderer. She has lots of suspects which lead to a good number of red herrings, a requirement for a good mystery. In this book she is joined by her brother, Ben, a rather irreverant priest who is a welcome new character. Daheim does her usual good job and this will be pleasing to "cozy" fans.

So far, I've read three of the books in the Emma Lord mystery series and they've all been great! Ms. Daheim does a great job of keeping the reader in suspense throughout the whole book. Every character is continually developed throughout the whole series making each book in the series interesting! Most series get dull after a while, but not the Emma Lord mysteries!

I can't wait to visit Alpine again

Emma Lord, owner and editor of the Alpine Advocate, receives a phone call from her long-lost cousin Ronnie. It seems that he has been wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his girlfriend and he has no one else to turn to. Emma is uncertain as to what to do, but her sidekick Vida convinces her that she must help Ronnie, since he is a family member. Emma decides to go to Seattle to help Ronnie and Vida invites herself along. When they arrive they discover that the life of the dead girl, Carol, was quite a tangled web. Emma and Vida begin their own investigation, since they find the police in Seattle to be just as inept as they are in Alpine. There are a number of people connected to Carol who seem to be good suspects but the intrepid investigators from Alpine keep coming up empty-handed. Nothing seems to make sense in this case, especially when another murder takes place. Emma stumbles upon one of the murderers and then realizes who the other one is. This is another good entry in this series.

Emma Lord has owned and operated Washington State's Alpine-Advocate for over a decade. Nearing fifty, Emma has covered more stories, solved several homicides, and has scooped her peers more often than she would like to remember.

Currently, she has the inside track to a Seattle murder that leaves her quite uneasy since the suspect is her dimwitted cousin Ronnie, a person she has not seen in about three decades. Ronnie is accused of killing his live-in girl friend. When Emma, at the instigation or encouragement, depending on the perspective of House and Home editor Vida Runkel, visits Ronnie at jail, she concludes he is too laid back to kill anyone. Emma and Vida begin their own style of investigating especially because the police are looking at Ronnie only in spite of the suspect's airtight alibi. However, finding the guilty party proves difficult and dangerous as the culprit prefers Ronnie receive credit for the deed.

THE ALPINE MENACE is a very intricate mystery so that it is nearly impossible to determine the identity of the killer. The victim is not likable, as she was the poster girl for "trailer trash" with many people wishing her dead. Thus, the audience performs a real mental workout trying to identify the perpetrator. Mary Daheim is dependable when it comes to a well-written mystery, but this novel is one of her best tales.

Harriet Klausner

Emma Lord has owned and operated Washington State's Alpine-Advocate for over a decade. Nearing fifty, Emma has covered more stories, solved several homicides, and has scooped her peers more often than she would like to remember.

Currently, she has the inside track to a Seattle murder that leaves her quite uneasy since the suspect is her dimwitted cousin Ronnie, a person she has not seen in about three decades. Ronnie is accused of killing his live-in girl friend. When Emma, at the instigation or encouragement, depending on the perspective of House and Home editor Vida Runkel, visits Ronnie at jail, she concludes he is too laid back to kill anyone. Emma and Vida begin their own style of investigating especially because the police are looking at Ronnie only in spite of the suspect's airtight alibi. However, finding the guilty party proves difficult and dangerous as the culprit prefers Ronnie receive credit for the deed.

THE ALPINE MENACE is a very intricate mystery so that it is nearly impossible to determine the identity of the killer. The victim is not likable, as she was the poster girl for "trailer trash" with many people wishing her dead. Thus, the audience performs a real mental workout trying to identify the perpetrator. Mary Daheim is dependable when it comes to a well-written mystery, but this novel is one of her best tales.

Harriet Klausner

Though I am an intermediate-level skier, I did not know much about ski racing before reading this book. If you don't know much about racing--how the races differ, what each demands, how skiers approach each type--you will learn a few things, but not many.

Of course, Street is not your typical skiers, either in ability or attitude. Simply put, even through multiple crashes (and even through blowing out a knee) and trips to the hospital, she did not "know fear" until the massive crash that occured shortly after the 1998 Olympics.

The book details her sporting, social, and family life in rural Idaho as a child, her races, rise to media stardom, and her various stints at rehabilitation. Through it all, we see a brash person looking for the next rush of adreneline, and the next victory. She accounts not only races, but conflicts with family, team members, and (eventually) employees. Her exploration of the world of being a Nike celebrity (design your own shoe) was an unexpected bonus.

I wish that she had waited to write this book until after the 2002 Olympics. After shattering one leg and tearing out the knee of the other, and the subsequent grueling rehabilitation, merely making the team was quite a feat. I would have liked to know what she thought of it all, though.

One weakness of the book is repetition--the word "ass" must have been used, on average, every other page. I don't faint at the sight of vulgarity, but a good writer finds ways around using the same word, especially a semi-vulgar one, over and over. The style, as you would expect from a "jock book," isn't always smooth or deep, but it offers just enough insight to make for an interesting read during the off-season.

Picabo not only makes a sublime skier but also a sublime author! This is really great book!Remember my name because one day I will race at the Olympics.

I loved this book right from the biggining.
I live in Chile and love skiing. Picabo comes sometimes on her summer to train on Chile and its just the greatest to see her training.
What I love about her is that she is a very authentic person and says just what she is thinking.
It seems to me that she has had a blast in her life, gone places, met people, won medals, campaign for Nike, etc.
Also, she is my same age , and so it is always interesting to see what others girls like me can do.

The author does a good job providing tips and lessons for all levels. What I like most about it is that the author does all this very concisely making this book a quick and effective read. After reading this book, I've experienced some 'breakthroughs' and have taken my skiing to the next level. My only minor complaint is that the illustrations are somewhat lacking but I would not hesitate to buy the book because of this.

Using only this book and a few random tips from strangers, I picked up telemarking in two days. (I also started with 25 years of alpine experience.) This book is clear, concise, and effective. It made all the difference in the world in getting me skiing expert trails reasonably well by the end of my second day. I am nowhere near handling moguls, glades, ice, cornices, etc., but I did have twenty or so graceful, linked turns in a steep bowl

The book is wonderful.

It is abound with simple, practical, and easy to remember helpful hints;I call them little golden nuggets of information that you take with you on each run, or even turn, as you practice your downhill ski skills On or Off Piste.

It also has a wonderful introduction to the history of skiing and a very honest analysis/assessment of telemark gear.

It is incredibly suited for all beginner and intermediate tele-skiers.

Mary Daheim is a good writer. Her characters are interesting and her plots are each different. But that's sort of the problem. Some of her characters, like Judith's mom in the B&B series, are a little TOO interesting. I get awfully tired of Judith and her mom arguing. And some of the plots in that series are kind of off the wall. I mean, I like my mysteries to have some surprises in them, but too much is still too much. I was really unimpressed with the latest one I read.

That's why I was interested in exploring this series. And this one is more to my taste. There are some eccentrics, but mostly it's just small town life on a believable scale. Of course, like Judith, Emma Lord has her share of romantic problems and kid problems. But I enjoyed this one a lot more. In fact, I've read the next two in the series and they just get better.

Emma Lord has always dreamed of running a newspaper, but the reality is a bit different than she had anticipated. The bills are rolling in and the money is rolling out in this small town in Washington where there isn't much happening which is newsworthy. Alpine is shocked when the son of a prominent family is murdered. Another murder follows and Emma is consumed with not only reporting the news, but in finding out who is causing it. There are plenty of people around who have a motive for the killing, even within the victim's family, but Emma doesn't want to jump to conclusions. Finally the murderer is revealed and Emma's life is in danger. This is a promising beginning for this "cozy" series.

If you love light, escapist mysteries, with strong female protagonists, you will like the Alpine mystery series of Mary Daheim's. I do not have to read things in series, and I find Daheim carefully reconnects the reader to the on-going characters and situations no matter which letter of the alphabet you pick up to read. I do endorse starting with A, The Alpine Advocate, however, as it sets the true scene. And protagonist Emma Lord is a wonderfully independent woman, a journalist of the big city of Seattle, who has purchased the little town news tome of Alpine, fictional, but very real, and invested her life and welfare in it. As the outsider, she must adjust to the local controls, the old-timers already in place on her staff, and to the expectations of a town who sees her as NEW. Her Catholic faith, her love of the wrong, and very unavailable man, and her love for a son with growing pains, and her brother, the charitable priest, give her substance the reader can sympathize with.

There is so much fun in these works by Daheim, in repeating, quirky characters, in idyosyncrasies of nature, in a middle-aged, sexy woman, and her spunky approach to life. Once you get hooked on Emma Lord, you will want to read all the books, which I believe are up to Alpine Obituary. If you start, you will find Emma and her circle to be a set of old friends, suitable for any reader's entertainment. There is red hot sex, suspense, laughter, and unexpected heartbreak. But this is great escapist reading. Fast, slick, and fun!

This fourth book of the Alpine series centers around Marilynn, a new nurse in town, who is African-American. She receives hate mail and is discriminated against in different ways. When two African-American males are killed in Alpine, people begin to suspect that Marilynn is connected with the crimes. Newspaper editor Emma Lord takes Marilynn under her wing and decides to protect her from slander and accusations of murder. Emma and her friends uncover some things about Marilynn's background which connect her to the victims, but Emma is convinced that she did not commit the murders. After a few red herrings, Emma finally discovers the truth. This is an enjoyable read, but it was difficult for me to believe that there would be this much discrimination in the 90's and a few loose ends were left at the end, such as who was sending Marilynn the hate mail. Despite these flaws, Daheim is always a good read.

After reading the complete Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman, I decided to give Mary Daheim and her Emma Lord mysteries a try. I have read Alpine Decoy and Alpine Escape so far, and I loved both of them. The books are hard to put down, mainly because of the suspense. The only downfall is how long it takes to get to the real "meat" of the story. If you like murder mysteries on the lighter side, this is a good series of books to go with.

I absolutely love this series. I can't wait to return to Alpine again

Emma Lord decides she needs a break from her routine and climbs into her trusty Jaguar to take a road trip. The problem is that her Jag is not so trusty and it breaks down partway through her trip. Emma has problems getting it fixed, so she calls the daughter of a friend of hers. The daughter invites Emma to spend the night and confides that she and her husband have just moved into an old family home where they have found a skeleton in the basement. Emma then joins them in their search for answers as to who the skeleton was and how it got in their basement. Many of the premises of this book seemed very contrived to me. Supposedly Emma barely knew her hostess and yet she imposed on her for several days. Also I wondered why the threesome would go to such great lengths to uncover the identity of the skeleton. Also, all of their theories were pretty much only theories, since they could prove none of them.
Of course our intrepid heroine comes up with the solution almost by accident. This was an interesting book, but not as well conceived as some of the others in the series.

Wow! This is the fifth book in the series, and the books are still exciting! Mary Daheim writes light murder mysteries that are both intriguing and hard to put down. If you like a good challenge, pick up one of these books and try to figure out "whodunit!" This whole series is so exciting because Mary Daheim continually lets all of her characters grow and she introduces new characters with each book! I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

I have read all of Daheim's books. Once I started, I carefully searched out all her titles and tried to read them in order as there is some carryover. I have lent them to friends, but am keeping them for another read. She writes about Washington state which I have been to but feel that I learn something about her part of the country, as well as being entertained. They are all well done mysteries.

Alpine is full of talk about the return of Ursula O'Toole. Having grown up in the small town, she married a wealthy doctor and is now returning to her birthplace to marry Warren Wells, another native of Alpine. Ursula immediately becomes embroiled in church politics and plans to run for the board of the Catholic school. Before that happens, however, she is found dead in the river. Some people think it was an accident but Emma Lord, local newspaper editor disagrees. She and her intrepid friend, Vida, do some investigating on their own. Did Ursula's future husband kill her for insurance money? Did Ursula's political enemies do her in? Did she have an old enemy in Alpine? Emma and Vida, together with Emma's boyfriend Sheriff Milo Dodge, finally uncover the answers to these question.

This is truly a great series. It is full of small town characters who are lively and sometimes odd. The plots are credible and exciting and the main character is believable. Never a disappointment!

For the fans of Mary Daheim's "Alpine" series, this is a pleasant addition. We see Emma Lord more comfortable in Alpine, accepted by the townspeople and coming to terms with her faith. The domestic violence, economic crisis are portrayed in a way to make you think about these issues. Small-town living? Not what everyone makes it out to be. In "The Alpine Icon", Ursula O'Toole Randall comes home to Alpine, engaged to another former Alpine resident,Warren Wells. A few things crop up that would make this move a bit uncomfortable. Warren's ex-wife, Francine, still lives in Alpine and runs an exclusive dress shop. Ursula manages to step on toes by making callous comments and a "holier than thou" attitude. She stepped on one toe to many and ended up dead. The sheriff, Milo Dodge, with Emma Lord's help and that of her House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, goes after leads all over Alpine. He sees more action in this book: domestic violence, drugs, attempted shooting and...love. A super continuation in "The Alpine Advocate" series. But for a first time reader, I would suggest the first book in the series "The Alpine Advocate".