Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable and insightful mystery--a good one
Review: When a college professor is killed during a student play, newspaper owner Emma Lord decides to get to the bottom of what might be an accident but could be murder. Nobody much liked Hans Berenger--but disagreements over sports policies or dating hardly seem like good enough reason for murder. Still, in a small town like Alpine, Washington, secrets are hard to keep. Emma suspects that a mysterious stranger is involved, but something seems missing--some clue that will put it all together. Author Mary Daheim brings the town of Alpine to life. Mary is a complex and damaged character--still recovering from the death of a lover, uncertain whether about exploring her feelings toward the sheriff, angry with plenty of people all the time, and pursuing the truth about what might be murder both for her newspaper and to satisfy some need within herself that has nothing to do with the news. Daheim interjects humor, the petty disagreements that make life real, and small-town competitiveness and cooperation. The mystery itself is cleverly constructed with enough clues to bring in the alert reader without being obvious. THE ALPINE PURSUIT is an enjoyable and engaging story that tugs the reader along with a subtle but powerfu current. This is a good one.
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