“Okay,” Bill said, turning toward the escalator that led to the parking garage. “Let’s go, let’s hit it, let’s get boppin’!”
Judith would have preferred bopping Bill. Judith was not in a good mood upon arriving home shortly after three o’clock. She found Joe lying on the living-room sofa, reading Sports Illustrated.
“Welcome back,” he said, not getting up. “Feeling rested?”
“No.” Judith dumped the luggage in the middle of the entry hall. “What are you doing home? Aren’t you going to help me?”
“Oh. Sure.” He got up, slowly walked across the room, and kissed Judith. “We had an early recess. I’ve been sitting for two days in that damned courtroom. I’m stiff as a board and my cold’s still bad. Funny, I’ve been so busy that it hardly seems like you’ve been gone at all. What was it four, five days?”
Judith scowled at her husband. “It seems like a month.”
Joe looked down at her luggage. “I’ll take that up later,”
he said, going back into the living room and resuming his place on the sofa. “None of the guests are here yet. It’s really peaceful, especially with your mother gone. Hey, sorry you missed the cruise, but a few days in San Francisco can’t be all bad. Did you have a good time?”
“I . . .” Judith flopped down on the matching sofa. “No. It was like a screwball movie from the thirties, with three people murdered, a man named Blackie, a blond bombshell, a snobbish old bat, and a bumbling cop. We would have been shot if it hadn’t been for Rick St. George, an amateur sleuth, and his rich wife, Rhoda—who, by the way, own a dog named Asthma.”
Joe chuckled. “That’s cute.” He picked up the newspaper from the coffee table and flipped to the TV listings. “That re-292 Mary Daheim
minds me, let’s kick back tonight. There’s an old Thin Man movie on.”
Judith stared at Joe. She started to rant, but changed her mind.
“Sounds good,” she said. “I like fantasy.”
About the Author Seattle native MARY RICHARDSON DAHEIM began reading mysteries when she was seven. She started writing them when she was eleven, but her career as a published novelist didn’t begin until much later. After graduating from the University of Washington’s School of Communications, Daheim worked on small-town newspapers and in corporate public relations. Her goal to write fiction remained in place, however, and she began publishing the Bed-and-Breakfast series in 1991, adding the Alpine mysteries a year later. The author is married to David Daheim, and the couple, who live in Seattle, have three grown daughters—Barbara, Katherine, and Magdalen. Daheim received the Pacific Northwest Writers Association 2000 Achievement Award “for distinguished professional achievement and for enhancing the stature of the Northwest literary community.”
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Cheers for
MARY DAHEIM
and her hilarious
BED-AND-BREAKFAST MYSTERIES!
“Delightful mysteries.”
Kansas City Star
“Daheim writes with wit, wisdom, and a big heart . . . Judith and Renie are sleuths to treasure.”
Carolyn Hart
“Like Joan Hess’ Maggody series, Daheim’s bed-and-breakfast mysteries show a funny and often stinging insight into people’s relationships and behavior.”
Houston Chronicle
“Mary Daheim is one of the brightest stars.”
Seattle Times
“She is really good at what she does.”
Statesman Journal (OR)
“Kick off your shoes by the fire and get cozy with Mary Daheim.”
Q
Bed-and-Breakfast Mysteries by
Mary Daheim
DEAD MAN DOCKING
THIS OLD SOUSE
HOCUS CROAKUS
SILVER SCREAM
SUTURE SELF
A STREETCAR NAMED EXPIRE
CREEPS SUZETTE
LEGS BENEDICT
SNOW PLACE TO DIE
WED AND BURIED
SEPTEMBER MOURN
NUTTY AS A FRUITCAKE
AUNTIE MAYHEM
MURDER, MY SUITE
MAJOR VICES
A FIT OF TEMPERA
BANTAM OF THE OPERA
DUNE TO DEATH
HOLY TERRORS
FOWL PREY
JUST DESSERTS
Available in hardcover
SAKS AND VIOLINS
Copyright This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. DEAD MAN DOCKING. Copyright © 2005 by Mary Daheim. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader May 2007
ISBN 978-0-06-146568-0
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Document Outline
• Cover Image
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Cast of Cruising Characters
• Chapter One
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven
• Chapter Eight
• Chapter Nine
• Chapter Ten
• Chapter Eleven
• Chapter Twelve
• Chapter Thirteen
• Chapter Fourteen
• Chapter Fifteen
• Chapter Sixteen
• Chapter Seventeen
• Chapter Eighteen
• Chapter Nineteen
• Chapter Twenty
• Chapter Twenty-One
• Chapter Twenty-Two
• About the Author
• Praise
• Bed-and-Breakfast Mysteries by Mary Daheim
• Copyright Notice
• About the Publisher
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