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A Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery — by Mary Daheim
Bed-And-Breakfast Series in Order: 32 books
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Just Desserts
Book - 1
BEDLAM AND BREAKFAST When the garishly grotesque clan of wealthy carpet-sweeper magnate Otto Broadie sweeps down upon Judith McMonigle's Hillside Manor Inn, it looks like there'll be a wild night of drinking, dining, and fortune-telling in the off...
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Holy Terrors
Book - 3
HARE TODAY, DEAD TOMORROW Catering the annual pre-Easter brunch and egg hunt is a hare-raising hassle for Judith McManigle, hard-working hostess of the Hillside Manor. And this year's egg scramble gets particularly messy when the reclusive wife of...
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Dune to Death
Book - 4
LIFE'S A BEACH...AND THEN YOU DIE! Bed-and-breakfast hostess Judith McMonigle and her policeman beau Joe Flynn have finally gotten hitched--and they're off on a sunny honeymoon to beautiful Buccaneer Beach. But an unfortunate confrontation with a ...
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Bantam of the Opera
Book - 5
DEATH ON THE HIGH CEES Bed-and-breakfast hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn isn't exactly bellowing "Bravo!" over the news that obnoxious opera star Mario Pacetti and his entourage are coming to stay at the Hillside Manor. The world-class tenor is a r...
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A Fit of Tempera
Book - 6
Framed Pity poor Judith McMonigle Flynn! Taking a much-needed break from Hillside Manor, she and irrepressible cousin Renie have barely set foot in their family's backwoods vacation cottage--and already they're having a brush with the local law. ...
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Major Vices
Book - 7
Murder is Relative Though they'd rather be boiled in oil, Judith McMonigle Flynn and her cantankerous cousin Renie have agreed to cater a seventy-fifth birthday bash for their batty old Uncle Boo Major, the billionaire breakfast mush magnate. Luck...
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Murder, My Suite
Book - 8
Death Takes a Holiday Gossip columnist Dagmar Delacroix Chatsworth and her yappy lapdog Rover's recent stay at the Hillside manor left hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn's nerves, and best bed linens, in tatters. So Judith joins cousin Renie for some...
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Auntie Mayhem
Book - 9
Bad Manors Though lurching through London is ever so jolly, hostess on-holiday Judith McMonigle Flynn and her cantankerous cousin Renie are looking forward to an unharried weekend at a real English country manor. They find the estate taxing, howev...
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Nutty As a Fruitcake
Book - 10
FROM GROUCH TO GRINCH...TO GHOST Hillside Manor's neighbors all adored proprietor Judith McMonigle Flynn's festive suggestion to deck the halls and houses in their cul-de-sac with eye-catching Christmas finery-except Enid Goodrich. The grumpy old ...
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September Mourn
Book - 11
Deadly Dishing Fall has fallen upon Judith McMonigle Flynn, leaving her Hillside Manor nearly devoid of guests. And what better cure for the off-season blahs than a brief bout of B&B sifting for a friend amid the quiet rustic splendor of secluded ...
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Wed and Buried
Book - 12
UNHOLY MATRIMONY Ask not for whom the wedding bell tolls, it tolls for Judith McMonigle Flynn's son Mike--and the Hillside Manor b&b is packed to the rafters with relatives. However, Mama Judith's unrestrained joy is somewhat dampened when, during...
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Snow Place to Die
Book - 13
THERE'S SNOW PLACE LIKE HOMICIDE B&B hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn's ready to hang up her oven mitts, but irrepressible Cousin Renie needs help catering the telephone company's annual winter retreat at secluded Mountain Goat Lodge. The pay's good...
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Legs Benedict
Book - 14
HAIL, HAIL, THE MOB'S ALL HERE! A week of "mayhem-as-usual" at Hillside Manor kicks off with the arrival of a mysterious "Mr. Smith" and his floozie "Mrs." from New York City--and it accelerates into chaos when Mr. Smith himself kicks off, a victi...
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Creeps Suzette
Book - 15
THE REAPER'S AT CREEPERS The off-season blahs, a pyromaniacal mom, and a recently retired husband who is constantly underfoot have poor Judith McMonigle Flynn going stir crazy at Hillside Manor. So the harried R&B hostess leaps at cousin Renie's s...
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A Streetcar Named Expire
Book - 16
FOR SALE: LUXURY CONDOS, CORPSE INCLUDED Just a stone's throw from Judith McMonigle Flynn's thriving Hillside Manor, workmen are busy renovating the elegantly decrepit Alhambra Arms into pricey condominiums. But concerned contractor George Guthrie f...
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Suture Self
Book - 17
A bum hip has bed-and-breakfast hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn limping off to Good Cheer Hospital -- a questionable "haven of healing" where two recent patients didn't make the cut after routine surgery. Judith's trepidation at undergoing the knife i...
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Silver Scream
Book - 18
DEAD AT THE BOX OFFICE Filmdom's most sparkling glitterati have brought their limos and their egos to Judith McMonigle Flynn's Hillside Manor for a gala preview of the latest epic monstrosity from genius super-producer Bruno Zepf. Hostess Flynn's Pa...
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Hocus Croakus
Book - 19
With major renovations under way at Judith McMonigle Flynn's fire-gutted Hillside Manor B&B, the distressed hostess is joining her family at the Stillasnowamish Casino on Native American land. Instead of breathing in soot and plaster dust, she's enjo...
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This Old Souse
Book - 20
Murder, Seamy Secrets, Regular Milk Delivery 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 when the exotic and decrepit manse on Moonfleet Street that the ...
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Dead Man Docking
Book - 21
B&B hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn and her closer-than-a-sibling cousin Renie would be crazy to turn down a free, 1930s-themed South Pacific islands cruise aboard the magnificent San Rafael, the pride of the Cruz Cruises fleet. Unfortunately, the fab...
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Saks and Violins
Book - 22
Slay That Funky Music Life has hit some sour notes as of late for B&B hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn and her cousin Renie. Graphic design guru Renie's up to her eyebrows in debt after some seriously overzealous spending sprees. Meanwhile, Judith's g...
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Scots on the Rocks
Book - 23
Hoping to dispel the late winter gloom, innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn flies off for a much-needed vacation to Scotland. Instead, she and prickly Cousin Renie find themselves marooned in an ancient castle perched high above the North Sea while thei...
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Vi Agra Falls
Book - 24
Innkeeper and amateur sleuth Judith McMonigle Flynn's worst nightmare comes true when Vivian Flynn -- husband Joe's first wife -- moves back into the neighborhood. Vivian, who has become mysteriously wealthy, plans to build a big, bad condo on their ...
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Loco Motive
Book - 25
This fall, Judith McMonigle Flynn can barely cope with her gaggle of guests at Hillside Manor B&B. And when diminutive daredevil and martial-arts movie icon Wee Willie Weevil insists on performing his dangerous stunts from Judith's roof -- and ends u...
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All the Pretty Hearses
Book - 26
There's no "fun" in "fund-raiser" for Judith McMonigle Flynn when she donates an overnight stay at Hillside Manor, dinner included, to the parish school's annual auction -- especially when the winning bid goes to the persnickety Paine family. She'll ...
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The Wurst Is Yet to Come
Book - 27
Bed-and-breakfast owner and amateur sleuth Judith McMonigle Flynn can't escape murder, even when she's out of town doing a good deed for the inn-keeping profession. But -- oh, for the love of lederhosen -- it gets complicated when, once again, Judith...
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Gone with the Win
Book - 28
In Gone with the Win, another charming entry in Mary Daheim's beloved Bed-and-Breakfast series, someone from Judith McMonigle Flynn's past comes knocking, and the reluctant amateur sleuth finds herself working a case so cold it's practically frozen. ...
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Here Comes the Bribe
Book - 30
Judith McMonigle Flynn has her hands full with unexpected family ties and a dead body in the backyard in this delightfully zany mystery in Mary Daheim's popular Bed-and-Breakfast series. Rodney Schmuck and his wife, Millie, Hillside Manor's latest...
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A Case of Bier
Book - 31
In this charming madcap entry in the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Bed-and-Breakfast series, innkeeper and amateur sleuth Judith McMonigle Flynn's plans for a relaxing vacation go awry when she realizes her fellow guests have a different k...
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Lady MacDeath
Book - 32
Unexpected visitors bring old baggage and big trouble to Hillside Manor, threatening the livelihood and life of innkeeper and amateur sleuth Judith McMonigle Flynn in this charming Bed-and-Breakfast mystery from beloved New York Times and USA Today b...
Series Premise
The core premise follows Judith McMonigle Flynn, a resourceful widow (later remarried) who runs Hillside Manor, a charming bed-and-breakfast on Heraldsgate Hill in a fictionalized Seattle suburb. Judith hopes for a peaceful life serving breakfasts, managing guests, and enjoying family time after her first husband's untimely death. Instead, her inn becomes a magnet for murder: guests drop dead, bodies appear in the backyard, or suspicious visitors bring trouble. Each book begins with Judith booking an unusual group—eccentric families, celebrities, corporate retreats, holiday gatherings, or theme weekends—only for foul play to interrupt.
Judith doesn't seek out mysteries; they find her through her hospitality role. She investigates unofficially, driven by curiosity, a sense of justice, and the need to protect her business reputation (and insurance rates). Clues emerge from overheard conversations, guest behaviors, kitchen mishaps, or neighborhood gossip. Judith's cousin Renie Jones (Serena Grover Jones) serves as her enthusiastic, often reluctant partner-in-crime—providing comic relief, moral support, and occasional muscle.
Cases involve classic cozy elements: multiple suspects with motives (greed, jealousy, inheritance), red herrings, alibis, and clever reveals. Over the series, ongoing threads include Judith's evolving family life—remarriage to detective Joe Flynn, her son Mike's growth, Renie's marriage to Bill Jones and their brood—plus recurring threats to Hillside Manor (renovations, financial woes, competing inns). The premise celebrates resilience, female ingenuity, and the idea that even in a cozy world, evil lurks among the ordinary, but wit and friendship prevail.
Bed-And-Breakfast Series Characters
Judith McMonigle Flynn anchors the series: a warm, capable woman in her forties/fifties (aging gradually), widowed early from her first husband Dan (a difficult man whose death she views pragmatically). Judith is intelligent, observant, and resilient—running Hillside Manor with efficiency while raising her son Mike and navigating remarriage to Joe Flynn, a homicide detective whose job often conflicts with her sleuthing.
Renie Jones (Serena Grover Jones), Judith's cousin and best friend, is the perfect foil: outspoken, artistic (a graphic designer), food-obsessed, and prone to dramatic flair. Married to psychiatrist Bill Jones (often absent in his study), Renie has four rambunctious children and provides comic energy, loyalty, and occasional recklessness.
Joe Flynn, Judith's second husband (from mid-series onward), is a competent, affectionate detective who tolerates (and sometimes aids) her investigations while worrying about her safety.
Mike Flynn, Judith's son (from her first marriage), grows from teen to adult—becoming a forest ranger and starting his own family—adding generational warmth.
Setting of the Bed-And-Breakfast Series
The series is firmly rooted in the Pacific Northwest, centered on Heraldsgate Hill, a fictional upscale neighborhood in Seattle (inspired by Queen Anne or Capitol Hill areas). Hillside Manor itself is the heart: a restored Victorian home turned cozy B&B with creaky floors, antique furnishings, a welcoming parlor, and a bustling kitchen where Judith bakes scones and plots deductions.
Seattle's misty climate, evergreen landscapes, and urban-suburban blend influence plots—rainy days trap suspects indoors, foggy nights hide clues, nearby attractions (Space Needle, Pike Place Market, ferries) serve as backdrops. Stories venture to rural retreats (mountain lodges, islands, small towns), holiday destinations, or family estates, contrasting the inn's warmth with isolated peril. The setting feels authentic and lived-in: coffee culture, liberal quirks, family-oriented neighborhoods, and the ever-present drizzle add texture while grounding the coziness in a recognizable Pacific Northwest world.
Tone & Themes of the Bed-And-Breakfast Series
The tone is witty, warm, and gently irreverent—classic cozy mystery with a sardonic edge. Daheim's prose is conversational and humorous, filled with Judith's dry observations, Renie's sharp-tongued quips, and exaggerated family antics. Suspense builds through escalating oddities and narrow escapes, but violence stays off-page or discreet—focus remains on puzzle-solving, interpersonal dynamics, and the absurdity of human behavior.
Humor is abundant: Judith's exasperation with demanding guests, Renie's food obsessions and dramatic outbursts, chaotic family dinners, and the duo's bickering banter provide constant levity. Emotional moments—grief, family tensions, small triumphs—add heart without heaviness. The mood is reassuring and entertaining: murder disrupts domestic bliss, but order restores through intelligence, loyalty, and a good breakfast. Readers finish each book amused, satisfied, and ready for the next quirky case.
The Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery series by Mary Daheim offers delightful, long-running cozy escapism where hospitality and homicide collide in charming, laugh-out-loud fashion. Through Judith McMonigle Flynn's sharp mind and Renie Jones's irrepressible spirit, the books deliver clever whodunits wrapped in family warmth, witty banter, and the comforting rhythm of inn life. Daheim's affectionate portrayal of Seattle-area domesticity, combined with satisfying resolutions and gentle humor, makes the series a reliable favorite for cozy mystery lovers seeking lighthearted intrigue, relatable heroines, and the timeless appeal of justice served with a side of scones.
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