2003-01-09 Mystery-lite

Magdalena Yoder has turned her family farmhouse into a famous Amish country inn in Pennsylvania. Booked well in advance, she has the privilege of selecting her customers. So she's a little surprised when she discovers she's booked a hunting party led by a well-known Senator and an anti-hunting, animal rights group for the same week, the opening week of hunting season. With the varying dietary requirements of the two groups, she has her hands full keeping the guests happy and fed while keeping her cook in the kitchen and her sister in line. And that's before the first body shows up!

As a mystery this book is a little slow. The first body doesn't show up for quite some time, and then it's the one guest we've forgotten about. Still, there is plenty of conflict to keep the reader going and I never felt the pace lagged. The guests are interesting characters, however the characters that are to be regulars seem like they could become annoying caricatures. Still, this is a fun, promising first novel and I plan to read more books by this author.