From Publishers Weekly
Ingenious plotting and a hefty dose of humor offset an underlying silliness in Edgar and Shamus-nominee Hall's 14th novel featuring his New York City PI, Stanley Hastings (Detective; Murder; Blackmail; etc.). Stanley and his henpecking wife, Alice, slip away for a week's vacation in the New Hampshire mountains while their son, Tommie, goes off to his first sleep-away camp in Vermont. Unfortunately, after all his tiring hiking and less than romantic nights at the Blue Frogs Inn with its paper-thin walls, Stanley finds himself on a busman's holiday when two guests at the B and B are murdered. The first victim, gorgeous blonde Christine, is poisoned in the middle of the cocktail hour while sharing a booth with lean, handsome Lars her boyfriend (or is it husband?). Just a day or two later a nosy tourist, Mrs. McInnerny, is found in her room with a kitchen knife sticking out of her chest. Since Pinehurst, the local police chief, is incompetent, Stanley must take over the investigation. Eventually, a frisky dog and a dour cat come into the picture, not to mention blue frogs of every nature, particularly those on the guest-room doors. The coziness often verges on gooeyness, while the author makes no effort to convey the beauty of the mountain setting. The book's real strength is its plot, which has a certain crazed logic that will keep most readers turning the pages. The B and B chef's yummy recipes are also a plus. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In his 14th outing, Stanley Hastings (Movie) and wife Alice vacation in New England but find themselves suspect when someone begins killing guests at their bed-and-breakfast. Caught without his usual New York police support group, Hastings must deal with the local chief. A good choice for most libraries. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The rousing return of Stanley Hastings in his fourteenth adventure finds the New York detective unwillingly vacationing at a New England B & B. Naturally, it's not long before one of the guests is murdered. As in the past, Hall both illuminates and parodies the private-detective formula. This time a local police chief turns every clue and circumstance on its ear until he appears to have made a fine case that Hastings is the murderer, assisted by his wife, the loquacious Alice. In a sly ending, Hastings uses both a cat and a Christie-style assemblage of all the suspects to solve the crime. One might quibble with a few particulars (a second murder never really makes much sense, even after the reason for it is disclosed), but like many a Christie mystery--or like Lawrence Block's Burglar in the Library (1997), in which another New Yorker, Bernie Rhodenbarr, solves a murder in a New England B & B--this one is so clever and so much fun that whodunit takes a backseat to the delicious style with which the tale is told. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
In this new Stanley Hastings mystery novel, the put-upon New York private investigator is vacationing at the Blue Frog Ponds Inn, a trendy New England bed-and-breakfast, with his wife, Alice. The cheerless room with its paper-thin walls, no TV, and a blue cartoon frog on the door does nothing for Stanley's spirits or his libido. Besides all that, someone has started bumping off the guests. Worse still, the first murder happened right under Stanley's nose, so he finds himself a key witness if not a prime suspect. Back home in New York City Stanley could call upon his friends on the police force to help him solve the crime, but not at Blue Frog Ponds. Here he has only his wits, his wife, and a cat -- all of which he'll need if he's to catch a killer before the culprit strikes very close to home.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"The fourteenth novel in the popular Stanley Hastings mystery series, strands the put-upon private investigator at the Blue Frog Ponds Inn, a trendy New England bed-and-breakfast, where he is vacationing with his wife, Alice. Their cheerless room with its paper-thin walls, no TV, and a blue cartoon frog on the door is doing little for Stanley's spirits and less for his libido." "Besides that, someone has started bumping off the guests. The first murder in fact happens practically under Stanley's nose. He is sitting in the dining room when, with an ear-splitting scream, a waitress discovers that the stunning young blond Scandinavian woman she is serving has lost a lot more than her appetite. So it is that Stanley finds himself a key witness, if not a prime suspect, in the bristly local police chief Pinehurst's case." "Back home, Stanley could call upon his friends on the New York City police force to help him solve the crime, but not at Blue Frog Ponds. Here he has only his wits, his wife, and a striped orange cat - all of which he will need if he's going to catch a killer before the culprit strikes uncozily close to home."--BOOK JACKET.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

In his 14th outing, Stanley Hastings (Movie) and wife Alice vacation in New England but find themselves suspect when someone begins killing guests at their bed-and-breakfast. Caught without his usual New York police support group, Hastings must deal with the local chief. A good choice for most libraries. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews