This Old Souse: A Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery Hardcover - 2004

From the publisher

The incomparable Daheim returns, increasing the property value of her delightfully daffy, USA Today bestselling Bed-and-Breakfast mystery series with a sturdy new addition -- a well-constructed tale of murder, milk delivery, and seamy secrets locked behind the closed doors of ...

A nostalgic trip back to Renie's old neighborhood wasn't meant to get B&B hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn's snooping engine revved up. But there it is: the exotic and decrepit manse on Moonfleet Street that the cousins always thought was deserted, even way back in Renie's junior high school days. And since Judith's ex-cop hubby, Joe, is out of town private-eyeing, and her duties at Hillside Manor are strictly routine, what's wrong with giving the creaky old house a closer look?

Lo and behold, the imposing architectural antiquity actually is occupied -- and has been since 1947 -- by the seldom seen and rarely heard Dick and Jane Bland along with Jane's spinster sister, Sally. At least that's the scoop according to the Blands' chatty milkman, who says he's been making deliveries to the address for as long as he can remember. Apparently, the Bland bunch gets mail, groceries, and cow juice dropped off regularly, and they pay their bills in cash that's left in the milk box -- a rather odd arrangement that intrigues Judith and Renie, unfortunately.

It's a curious situation to be sure, but there's certainly nothing sinister going on. At least not until Judith opens the trunk of her car ... and discovers a dead body. To her dismay, the corpse, when animated, had been tightly wrapped up in this Bland business.

Suddenly Judith's gone from being suspicious to being a suspect. And to extricate herself, she'll have to sort through a fine mess of skeletons that the whole blamed Bland family has stuffed away in their many closets.