Doom with a View (Merry Ghost Inn #2) by Kate Kingsbury

With the arrival of six senior reading group members at the Merry Ghost Inn, the long-awaited Grand Opening week has finally begun for Melanie West and her grandmother, Liza. All is well with the Oregon coast-side B&B until Melanie's dog, Max, finds the dead body of one of their guests. Everyone at the inn immediately falls under suspicion, including the innkeepers themselves. Melanie and Liza are not sure who they can trust, and the idea of cohabitating with a murderer is enough to send chills down anyone's spine. To make matters worse, the curmudgeonly town detective wants them to steer clear of the investigation, but doesn't seem too inspired to solve the case in a timely fashion himself. To clear their own names and to avoid the blight on the inn's reputation that yet another dead body will bring, Melanie and Liza dive headlong into the murder investigation. With a little help from their chuckling ghost, Melanie and Liza dodge the detective, tip-toe around their suspicious guests, and still serve up delicious Bed & Breakfast meals on time in Kate Kingsbury's delightful second Merry Ghost Inn mystery, Doom with a View.  (Summary via Goodreads)


The saying "You can't judge a book by it's cover." fits perfectly for the second book in Kate Kingsbury's Merry Ghost Inn Mystery series.  That saying will come to mind a lot while reading Doom with a View.

In Doom with a View Melanie and her grandmother are finally opening up the Merry Ghost Inn and their first guests are 6 senior citizens who belong to a reading group.  How harmful can they be ?  What could possibly go wrong ?  Well ......

As you get use to the routine of running the Inn with Melanie, Liza and their new employee Cindi...who by the way has piercings and tattoos and dresses a little "gothic-y"...judging a book by the cover.... Anyway before the three of them can even get their morning routine down, Melanie's dog Max finds one of the senior citizens dead outside in the driveway.  Unfortunately after the police show up, it is discovered that he fell from the 2nd floor balcony and it wasn't an accident !!!

Everyone in the Inn is considered a suspect meaning no one is allowed to leave town.  This is a huge problem for Melanie and Liza as they have a full calendar and the current guests need to be out in less than a week.  

They know that they did not kill Walter and they know that he was a miserable old man but they cannot see how one of the other members of the group could have pushed him off the balcony.  Can't judge a book by it's cover comes to mind again.....  They are old people with old bones, none of them could have lured Walter out to the balcony and then successfully pushed him.  They would have hurt themselves.

But Melanie and Liza know that looks can be deceiving, especially having hired Cindi and she is doing a great job, so they decide to talk to the guests and see if they can find the murderer.

You will love the relationship that Melanie and Liza have and enjoy getting to know the reading group.  Kingsbury will have you thinking you might know who the guilty party is until you turn the page and read more.  You will wonder about the secrets of the group, especially the sisters...... But when it comes down to it and you finally find out who killed Walter and why you may NEVER look at a senior citizen the same again.....

Review by Missi S.