Mary Daheim continues her Emma Lord mysteries with Bitter Alpine. Emma is fearing that she may lose columnist Vida for her newspaper as Vida is in the hospital and has mainly retired. Emma and her husband Milo
are also tracing the stories of several local residents who have problem pasts. It's winter and murder is coming her way. Traditional cozy.

Bitter Alpine by Mary Daheim is the 28th book in the Emma Lord series, and my second book in the series. I have read most of the books in the Bed and Breakfast series and enjoyed them as well. Emma Lord is the owner, editor, and publisher of the Alpine Advocate Newspaper and she is married to Sheriff Milo Dodge. When a young women is found dead in a shabby motel, the mystery begins. Once I started this book, I could not stop reading it until I was done. Not only does this book have an exciting mystery but also very refreshing and a quick read. I'm also excited that I have 26 other books in this series to read while waiting for a new one. If you love fun cozy mysteries, which are my favorite, you will love this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is definitely one of the better emma lord books. This one had many unexpected twists and turns. The characters are loveable and the plot is somewhat complicated. When a dead character appears out of nowhere you know emma is on the case. It is a highly entertaining mystery. I definitely recommend it.

This was a great read. It was quick and fun. I would recommend it to others. I will read more by this author.

New year, new murder . . . Emma Lord is on the case when death finds its way back to the wintry mountain town of Alpine.

After a relatively calm and cozy holiday season, neither Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, nor her husband, Sheriff Milo Dodge, are surprised when their new year gets off to a rocky start. A woman’s body has been found in a squalid motel. Her driver’s license shows that Rachel Jane Douglas was in her late thirties and lived in Oakland, California—and the only connection between that town and Alpine is their gold-mining and logging origins. When they discover that Rachel’s room reservation was open-ended, Emma, Milo, and the ever-inquisitive Advocate receptionist, Alison Lindahl, are more than mildly curious. And never mind that the youthful Alison is a bit distracted by the new county extension agent’s virile good looks. She can still sleuth while she stalks her newest crush.

But that’s not all the news that’s unfit to print. There’s something strange about the older couple who have moved into the cabin down the road that was once owned by a murder victim. The elderly wife seems anti-social. There’s got to be a reason, which Emma, Milo, and Alison intend to find out—even if it puts them in deadly danger.
Amazon.com

Bitter Alpine is Mary Daheim’s twenty-eighth Emma Lord mystery. The series started all over again, dubbed Emma Lord Returns, with the release of Alpha Alpine in 2017. Of course, this is Mary’s second series. In 1991, she started her first Bed and Breakfast mystery series, featuring Judith and her cousin, Renie, which so far has run thirty-one books.

In Bitter Alpine, Emma Lord is back as is her husband, Sheriff Milo Dodge. A woman has been murdered at the sleazy Alpine Falls motel. Vida gets into a car accident, but the crash location is dubious. The town manager, Milo’s boss, beats up his girlfriend once again, putting Milo in the position of having to arrest his boss, if he could only find him, and it’s been snowing and snowing.

I love both of Mary’s series, and I’ve been one of her readers for decades. Please welcome Mary Daheim to WWK. If you, too, have been reading her books—please stop by and ask Mary how she has done it. She’s one of my heroes. E. B. Davis

Have editors asked you to whitewash your characters or town history so they are politically correct?

No, never. And some of them aren’t PC. Alpine is a small town and often the inhabitants can be small-minded.

All of your main characters are in their fifties. Why?

I understood that cozy mystery readership is generally older, and I suspect that’s even more true than it was when I began the series in the early 1990s.

Alpine, Washington, is a remote, former logging town in the Cascade Mountains. Is it real or based on another town? Why did you decide on this setting, and have you ever lived in such a town?

Yes, Alpine did exist between 1910 and 1929 when the town was shut
down after the local parcel was completed. There was never a road into the old town; access was only by train. My parents, grandparents and a lot of other relatives lived there from 1916 to 1929 though not all at the same time.

My grandparents and my great-aunt and great uncle moved from Sultan to Alpine in 1916 after their two 8-year old boys burned down their farm’s barn after trying to learn how to smoke. Much of the farmland was also damaged, but Grandpa Dawson and Great Uncle Tom Murphy had to work and found jobs at Alpine. They weren’t loggers but were assigned what I’d call mid-management jobs.

In 1917 during WW I, Alpine won an award for selling the most victory bonds per capita. I have a copy of the photograph of the whole town proudly standing on the mill deck. There’s a copy of that photo at the UW’s main library. The Murphys left Alpine in 1920 because their daughter was 18 and they wanted her to go to secretarial school in Seattle. Two years later my grandparents would follow them back here. My mother was the eldest of the six Dawson kids and next in line was her sister who was only a little over a year younger. It was time for them both to go to secretarial school. But later after my mother married my father in 1926, he would quit his job on the Alaskan fishing boats because the season up north lasted at least 5 months. Carl Clemans (Alpine’s founder and the owner of the timber company) offered my father the job of running the mill boiler, a job Dad knew well from running the boilers on the fishing boats. My parents remained in Alpine almost up to the time the timber harvest was completed and the town was shut down.

I heard so many fond tales of Alpine over the years that when an editor I knew from working at Avon Books, who had moved on to Random House/Ballantine, got in touch with me in 1990 or 1991. He’d found out I’d switched to mysteries with the B&B series. He asked if I would write a series for him. I’d never thought about a second series, but somehow Alpine popped into my head. He liked the idea and it was a way that I could try to keep the old town from completely fading away. It has since been named a Historic State Ghost Town.


Do newspapers have an obligation to print every letter that is signed?

That was always my understanding when I worked on small-town daily newspapers years ago, but I have no idea what the Met dailies do. Yes, the Seattle Times still runs a few letters, but they are always quite short and may have been edited. The Times has shrunk so in recent years that my son-in-law Dennis refers to it as The Seattle Pamphlet.

Emma never packs her lunch. Is she too busy or does she want to get out into the community to find out what is happening and to support her advertisers?

Like her author, Emma doesn’t function well in the morning. She’s lucky she can deal with a bowl of cereal. And, like her author, she wouldn’t dream of packing a lunch. I never did that in all the years I worked full time. It wouldn’t be fair to restaurant owners and their employees.

Do people just disappear up in the Cascades, even if near to a community?

It happens, especially with people who go off by themselves. Bad idea. When my father was a teen-ager, he and his chums went hiking up by Mt. Rainier. One of the boys went over to study a crevasse—and fell into it. He was probably killed on impact, but there is no way to retrieve someone when the crevasse is maybe thousands of feet deep. And yes, there are so-called Mountain Men who are recluses around in the Cascades and probably over in the Olympics on the peninsula. I did my research on the subject and they don’t like company. Those human skulls in their living places do exist. Craig Laurentis isn’t that type. At least I hope not. As Emma discovered when she met him, he’s not entirely anti-social. He apparently just doesn’t care much for civilization.

The newspaper’s employees bring in pastries daily. How did this tradition start?

I really don’t know. Early on, there are no pastries. But I suspect it was started at the urging of Ed Bronsky.

There are a number of off-kilter people who live in Alpine, like UFO spotter Averill Fairbanks. Does Alpine produce kooks or does it attract kooks?

Having lived in small towns, I can say they do attract their share of weirdos. Or maybe because the population is so much smaller than in a city, they just stand out more.

Have you ever found a wife who was in charge of the remote?

No. I didn’t even know how to work it until after Dave, my husband, died.

Vida seems to be a crazy hat lady instead of a crazy cat lady. Why does she have over 400 hats?

You’d have to ask Vida that. I stole her first name from a woman in Snohomish who, along with her husband, owned the local weekly newspaper, but the crazy hats were my own invention. My family had stayed friends with Carl Clemans and his family who had settled in Snohomish after leaving Alpine. I also stole Old and Young Doc Dewey from Snohomish’s Old and Young Doc Touhy. About five years ago I was doing a book event in Everett, which is about 25 miles west of Snohomish. After I finished, a woman about my own age came up to me and said she was Ann Touhy, the widow of Young Doc Touhy. It turned out that we had both been widowed about the same time. She told me that the real Vida had indeed worn crazy hats. Ann knew that because she was Vida Dobbs’s daughter. Sometimes I wonder if I can tell fact from fiction.

Three murders resulted after a dispute over a goat. How does that happen?

Don’t ask me. Emma never did find out all the facts behind the feud.

Are small town newspapers still viable?

I actually think they are. Small town residents aren’t going to get a lot of local info from the internet. I suspect they’re in better shape financially than many of the met dailies.

Who are the Muckleshoots?

They’re one of our local Salish tribes. The first inhabitants of Seattle (my cousin Judy is a descendant of them on her father’s side, and her name is enshrined as a descendant at the West Seattle landing place where the first white settlers arrived) made friends with the local native chief. He was very kind to them, and they wanted to name the city in his honor. He said that was fine, but they’d have to pay him for it. No one seems to be sure how much they paid, but it wasn’t cheap.

He’s honored all over the place here with statues, plaques, etc. The local tribes were allowed to keep their own reservations. Gambling is illegal in this state (except for a state lottery), but tribal grounds were somehow exempted. Several decades ago, almost all of the tribes decided to build gambling casinos, resort hotels, shopping malls and whatever else could make money. I ought to know. I’ve spent my share of time in the Tulalip Resort Hotel & Casino up north near Marysville. I’ve also gone to some of their other casinos (the Snoqualmie is near the pass up through the Cascades and the view alone is worth the visit), but I like the Tulalip best. I’m Catholic and so are most of the Tulalips. When I’ve stayed overnight on a weekend I go to their parish church which dates from around 1910. The church is set high on a hill overlooking Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. Really a spectacular view. I’ve only been to the Muckleshoots’ casino once (it’s by the town of Auburn east of Tacoma) and had no luck at all. Chief Seattle is buried over on the Kitsap Peninsula, part of which belongs to his tribe. His grave is just about opposite to the entrance to the Clearwater Casino.

Do Milo and Emma keep their finances separately from one another?

At one point after Milo & Emma get together, she’s fussing over her bills and he tells her to hand them all over to him. She can’t balance a checkbook (nor can her author) and he says he’ll pay all of them from now on. Emma doesn’t argue. She also admits she doesn’t know how much money Milo makes and doesn’t want to know. Leo tells her she could look it up, but she says she doesn’t care—she didn’t marry him for his money.

Will we ever find out if Rachel was the birth daughter of Kay and Jack?

I honestly don’t know. I suppose we might.

What’s next for Emma and Milo?

I have no idea. I try to keep whichever series I’m NOT working on at bay so I can focus on the one I’m writing. And by the way, you ask very good questions. Thanks so much for getting in touch with me!

It’s been a blast, Mary. Thanks so much for an interview. We’ll do it again!

This interview will post on 3/18/20.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. But I just couldn't do it. I didn't even get past chapter 9 as hard as I tried.

There are so many entertaining books out there to read, I just couldn't dedicate my time to this one.

The characters were all a bit mean. They were always complaining to each other and saying unkind things.. The fact that it sometimes seemed like this was a form of foreplay for Emma and Milo didn't help. They had unkind things to say about former spouses (or lovers) calling them names. In conversations people said things like "You remember what happened to so-and-so a few years ago?" I don't care what happened to incidental people that are thrown into the story. I just got tired of the underlying dislike for people.

The characters constantly used slang terms for people like "vic" and "dink." I could figure out that "vic" meant "victim", but I had no idea who or what a "dink" is and the dictionary on kindle was no help telling me that it is a term for a dropped shot in tennis. The author must have watched WAY too many TV police shows.

In addition, the author gave the background of every single person ever mentioned in the book. I really don't care about the back story for the guy who drives the snow plow. Does it relate to the story line? I will never know, but certainly all the people we have learned about their past lives can't be major players. The story dragged on and on.

At 30% through my kindle edition all I knew was that a woman had disappeared years before and that the body of a young woman was found. She may have been the illegitimate child of one of the town's residents, but I will never know because I just couldn't finish this book. It was too painful and I have too many other books to read.

I will not be looking for any more books by Mary Daheim.

Bitter Alpine by Mary Daheim is a tale of the happenings of a small town.

Who killed the new girl in town?

Emma Lord
Emma runs the local newspaper and recently married the Police Chief. She is a journalist and, in the past, may have gotten herself in some sticky situations. She doesn't get into much trouble in this book. However, people do tend to contact Emma with local gossip.

This book is the first that I have read by Mary Daheim. I enjoyed the story, which is a continuation of the previous Emma Lord series. So, this is lots of history that Emma dishes out about the townsfolk throughout the tale. I found Emma to be knowledgeable, kind, good at dealing with prominent personalities, and I agree with her that no one should have to eat Vida's cooking.

The Mystery
A young woman new to town is murdered in the cheap local motel. Their boyfriends physically abuse two women and now missing. Vida wrecks her car as black ice forms in the winter weather. Is anything connected or all these individual crimes? This task is Chief Mitch's job to figure out, but that doesn't mean that Emma can't help.

3 Stars
Bitter Alpine by Mary Daheim is a good cozy mystery. I felt at times that the author could have moved the story along at a faster pace, but most everything works out in the end. So, my rating for Bitter Alpine by Mary Daheim is three stars.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Great Escapes Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Bitter Alpine by Mary Daheim.

This Guest Review is for Baroness' Book Trove.

Until the next time,
~Jen

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.

I have read this series since the beginning and each book just seems to get better. The characters fell like old friends and family. Although this could be read as a stand-alone, I do suggest reading this series in order to understand the characters and their relationships with each other.

The mystery is well-written with enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. I'm already ready for the next one in the series.

I have now tried 3 books in this series, the first, one in the middle and this one. I have not been able to get into the series at all. For me the sheriff's attitude comes off as feed me now, woman as soon as he comes home from work. The fact the book also covers what they have for breakfast, lunch and dinner I also found annoying.. I read cozy mysteries for the mystery and the character's relationship. It is different if I am reading a culinary cozy.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dollycas’ Thoughts

This series continues as we enter 2007. The Alpine Advocate editor Emma Lord and her new husband Sheriff Milo Dodge ring in the new year only to find themselves embroiled in another investigation. A women’s body is found in a local hotel and they can’t find any connection between her and Alpine. The new Advocate receptionist even does a little sleuthing. All three are also concerned about an older couple the have moved in down the road. Needless to say, all their snooping could be dangerous.

I have enjoyed all the previous 27 books in the series. This time Emma and Milo are even more cantankerous than usual and I felt Emma has lost some of her conviction and that detracted from the joy I usually feel when visiting Alpine. Emma also uses a derogatory term to describe her son that almost had me putting the book down for good. I know the story is set 13 years ago and the author probably used it as a reference for the time, but it is a term I believe was even seldom used even then. I was also taken aback by the way domestic abuse was handled. In fact, that word, that abuse, and some of Emma’s actions ring more from the ’50s instead of the early 2000s. As I kept reading I understood why the author handled the abuse as she did, but it was hard to read in places. Vida also has her share of troubles within these pages.

The mysteries were hit and miss for me. One of the problems with a long-running series is giving new readers background on the town and its inhabitants. It is important to learn the small-town dynamics like everyone is related to Scene Around Town columnist, Vida Runkel and that Ed Bronsky is going to drop by the Advocate office with some new scheme. Ms. Daheim did that almost too much this time. The asides messed with the flow at times. Emma seemed to be off her game with these investigations. I did think it was hilarious near the end of the book when Milo locked Emma in the car and warned her not to try to get any closer. What was sad was that she actually did it. Not all the loose ends are tied up at the end. Emma’s son Adam has been transferred from Alaska to Michigan and Vida’s replacement as she retires looks to be ad man Leo’s wife Liza.

The author continues to capture the weather and atmosphere of Alpine, Washington. January there can be brutal.

I am hoping the stumbles in this story are just a blip in the life of this series. Writing 28 books featuring the same characters and keeping things new and fresh has to be incredibly hard. I will be looking forward to the next installment because I do want to see what happens next for the residents of Alpine.

Emma Lord runs the local newspaper in a quaint resort town in Washington state, giving her a natural instinct for tracking down a story and rooting out the truth about the identity of the deceased and the reasons that led to her demise. Emma is married to the Sheriff, who sometimes shares info and sometimes doesn’t. This was the first time I read anything by this author, and perhaps I would have appreciated the characters more if I had read earlier books and they had been “old friends” of mine – despite the sprinkling of references to previous murders/cases in Emma’s past. Although the pace of the narrative was steady, I’d have liked to see more tension/action. This is a read mostly likely to be enjoyed by fans of the Emma Lord mysteries who will enjoy the trip down memory lane.

Emma and her husband Milo had a lovely holiday season and all is going well in their world. The paper is doing well and Milo hasn't had a thing bad to investigate. When life is happy something bad is eventually bound to happen and in this case does. A young woman is found dead in the local dirty motel. They soon learn the young woman is from California but are having a hard time with figuring out what or who brought her to town. Meanwhile several other weird things are going.on around town, an older couple is living in a local cabin and no one is are when they moved in and how long they will be staying there. Emma's neighbor is kidnapped by her boyfriend and no one can seem to find them, with the weather it's hard to imagine they got far. With everything going on Emma has tons for the paper businesses to dig more into the young woman's murder. Can she figure it all out with the few clues that she has or will
her murder remain a mystery?

Newlywed Emma and her local sheriff hubby, Milo Dodge are in their 50s, settling down to married life.

Emma has succumbed to the stereotypical housewife persona, albeit somewhat 1950s style, and seems to have become comfortable with their unusual lifestyle. As sheriff, he is often called out and spends long hours on the job; she as owner and editor of the local weekly Alpine Advocate operates on a thin budget with a few employees who handle different aspects of the news. Vida, a long time employee who handles the House and Home section along with the Scene notes she is ready for retirement, forcing a slight reshuffling of staff. Mitch handles reporting assignments.

Milo is called out to the apparent murder of a woman at the motel on the fringe of town and sets off the investigation leading to some red herrings which will definitely throw you off track in this cold, heavily snow-laden mountain community narrative. As editor of the local newspaper, of course, it's in her interest to get the news, although no one is going to break a sweat over it. Support characters and their lives provide ample distraction. Difficult to invest in most of the characters. I had some challenges with their routine (even given the year of 2007) and the interaction between Emma and Milo (why did they marry?).

More character-driven than cozy, slow pace ended with an abrupt conclusion. This would work as a standalone. I received the digital download by the publisher through NetGalley and appreciated the opportunity to read. 2.5/5 rounded up

This was the first book I have read from this series that I see has been around for quite some time that runs titles from A to Z. I liked it well enough as cozies go but wonder if I had read some of the previous books if I would have had a better feel or appreciation for the characters? I felt the story line was good but I never really connected to anybody and it seems a few things didn't appear to wrap up at the end but this could have very well just been an open ending for the next book so I can't say for sure as this being a first in the series for me as to the authors style about things like that.

Overall it was a fun read and I enjoyed the wintry feel of it. I would totally read more books from the series before I formed any major opinions.

I have a hard time understanding the appeal of Emma and Milo. I know it is set in a time over a decade ago, but the smoking and the negativity of statements about and to each other is difficult for me. That being said the mystery and the town and its inhabitants are engaging. The mood created by Mary Daheim's expert writing style is evocative and keeps the interest of the reader. I would read more if given the opportunity.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Fans of the long running Alpine series (from A to Z) are happy that Emma Lord and her husband, Sheriff Milo Dodge are still with us in this new set of mysteries set in Alpine, Washington. This is the second entry and there is lots going on for both of them to investigate. Milo, of course, because he is the sheriff but Emma runs the newspaper and reporters investigate, too. Milo wishes she's do less of that. When a young woman is found dead in the local seedy motel Emma wants to write the story.At the same time an older couple staying in a local cabin. Who are they really? and what do they have anything to do with the previous owner who was murdered? Alpine may be a small rural town but there is a whole lot going on there.
If you are new to this series, not a problem as Mary Daheim manages to find a balance between informing the new reader of the vast backstory in order to enjoy this new series and remind the long time reader of things they may have forgotten. The pace has a pleasant slowness to it as befits a small town and the puzzle is complex enough to keep the reader engaged to the final reveal. It's good to have Emma back and I'm looking forward to more news from Alpine.

Note to publisher: I read a good bit of this book, skimmed other parts. I did not enjoy it at all and cannot recommend it to my blog followers, so I won't post a review online out of consideration for the author.

For one thing, it's hard to pick up a book in a long-running series with regular characters, and I felt lost. Another element I quickly tired of was all the drinking. But my main problem was the level of profanity throughout. I review for readers who expect cozy mysteries to be clean, and this story failed that test miserably. I literally cringed at the frequent profanity and there's no way I can recommend this book. I wish publishers and authors would set the standard higher for cozy mysteries.

Emma Lord owns the town's weekly newspaper.   She's also married to Milo Dodge, the county Sheriff.  The combination is a natural for some amateur sleuthing under the guise of "investigative journalism".   Much to the Sheriff's chagrin.  Daheim has a great story premise and some very intriguing, likeable characters.  I did find the background bits of the story somewhat difficult to follow however, and that made it fuzzy in places.   Overall, I'd still recommend this as a good read.  And I'd definitely be interested in further installments from this  husband and wife set of sleuths!

[Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for an Advance Reader Copy of this book.   The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.]

Emma and Milo are settling into married life, but not without some difficulties. He still gives her a bad time and she hounds him for information on open cases. When a woman is murdered at the local 'no tell, motel' in Alpine, no one can figure out who she is and what connection she has to the community. Another woman is battered ad hospitalized by the town manager (Blackwell) and next door there is a kidnapping and an abandoned child. There is a lot going on in this story. I also felt like it could be a couple of different books thrown together. With typical angst in the newspaper office and Vida almost fainting - even more is going on. While the book comes to a good conclusion the flow of the book was a bit overwhelming, too many story lines. I did enjoy the book, however and consider it a good addition to this series..

From Random House comes a new addition to the “An Emma Lord Mystery” cozy book series, Bitter Alpine, written by Mary Daheim.

This is a cozy book series that has been around for quite some time, and the first one I have read. I am sure that there are lots of fans of this series out there, but unfortunately, I am not going to be one of them. If this book is any indication of what others in the series are like, I can honestly say that I not only won’t be reading them, I won’t be recommending them either.

There was not a single character in this story that I liked or wanted to hear more about. There wasn’t even one likable person in the entire book. It is not often that I can’t find something to like about a book, even one that isn’t fantastic. But in this case, there isn’t a single thing I found appealing in this cozy book.

Of the issues that grated on me the most, I would say that the physical abuse is at the top of the list. Although set in 2007, the acceptance of physical violence was not okay, and the laws against abuse were plentiful. Several women are physically abused by their partners throughout this book, and none of the abusers are arrested. Even in 2007, we had mandatory arrest laws. The police had the right to arrest anyone who was accused of, or they had cause to believe had committed physical abuse to someone, even a spouse, without the spouse pressing charges. The fact that the abuse was considered routine and accepted in this book was heartbreaking.

The sheer lack of an investigation into a murder, or the abuse, is number two on the list. There is little to no investigation into the murder of a stranger in a hotel. There are no real suspects; no one was brought in for questioning about where they were the night of the murder. And several possible suspects left town and the country without anyone caring. The killer is wholly unbelievable and feels as if a murderer was thrown in at the last minute, and the motive even more so as it is nonexistent.

The main character, a newspaper publisher who doesn’t seem to do anything except drink coffee, eat donuts and gather useless info from her Sherriff husband (the couple, in reality, would never have married in the first place but most definitely would be divorced after only 1-year). The Sherriff and publisher do nothing except bully each other, yell at each other, and seem to live in the 40’s when the “little woman” had to have dinner on the table when the man of the house came home.

Throw in a brooding reporter, who doesn’t come up with any leads of his own, despises his boss’ spouse, i.e., the Sherriff, and does so openly while getting all of his leads from his boss. There is a man crazed receptionist who doesn’t seem to care who she marries as long as its soon and a population that appears to be indifferent to the goings-on of their city leaders, including when they commit crimes. You have a long, dull, and at times, immensely distasteful story that, in the end, doesn’t even make sense. I won’t go into the issue that the Sherriff only eats steak and burgers; the couple eats out for lunch every day, drinks alcohol heavily, and they do it all on what appears to be a meager income. The problems go on and on in this cozy book.
I am sorry to say that I cannot recommend this book.

ARC provided by NetGalley