Review of Pleasantly Dead

Pleasantly Dead

"I suppose you're going to tell me there's a dead body down there."

And the cast of the Pleasant Inn is off to an entertaining romp--a la Fawlty Towers--in Ontario's cottage country, with its own Basil Fawlty in the guise of co-owner Trevor Rudley, in charge.

Pleasantly Dead is well-paced, the dialogue is sprinkled with almost the perfect touch of sarcasm, and the humour, although occasionally forced, is an enjoyable departure from the blood-red realism so popular today.

Author Judith Alguire's taste for fatal boating accidents, poisonings and poorly executed kidnappings put one in mind of Canadian author Mary Jane Maffini.

Stumbles, amateur show night, and bumbling make Pleasantly Dead a pleasantly engaging diversion on an Ontario winter night.


— Don Graves The Hamilton Spectator

More Reviews of this title

Pleasantly Dead

Nowhere is it more true that a book can be like 'a vacation in the pocket,' than with Pleasantly Dead by Judith Alguire. 'The Pleasant' is the name of an Inn in Ontario Cottage Country, the sort of place that would be packed to the rafters, if it existed. Take the food, for example. Lush descriptions of all the meals and what those who ate them thought. (Asparagus crepes, Belgian waffles, French Roast coffee and cranberry-orange muffins.) The surroundings fit the same vivid description, private cottages all named for trees as well as rooms upstairs in the rambling, well-kept building, where the dipsomaniac, hypochondriac Aunt Pearl stays.

Yes, with the Pleasant, its inhabitants are the particular joy. Oh yes, murder does occur but gently, pleasantly, if you will. While there is a distinct resemblance to Christie on one of her better forays; a romance, admirable eccentrics, no lack of suspects, the flavor is uniquely Alguire's own. Innkeeper Rudley and his wife, Margaret, are as oddly assorted a pair as Fawlty Towers ever saw. And when Margaret goes missing, the inn is turned upside down.

Alguire has a light, insightful touch with all the little details. The cover indicates this, a red Adirondack chair struck by rays of rising or setting sun, overlooking a grey lake and a dark shoreline. In the far right corner of the cover are a neat pair of dead feet. A fishing pole leans casually against the chair back, as though the owner had been trying to snag a trout till someone did him in (and stole his shoes). Aunt Pearl and the Music Hall are memorable as well as very funny. There is a mesmerizing quality to the prose.

Among American authors, Alguire is reminiscent of Phoebe Atwood Taylor's Cape Cod series, an author she has never read, according to a recent interview. Among Canadian authors she has no equal, though the novel reads more British than U.S. If you want a book to lift you right out of everyday life and set you down in a fascinating world of suspicious guests, great food, and lively events, now that Christie's dead, you can't go wrong with Rudley and company. I look forward to many more installments from the inn.


— Rose DeShaw

Pleasantly Dead

Kingston author Judith Alguire intends this as the beginning of a series, and if you like the cute, traditional mystery, this is it. Trevor and Margaret Rudley are the owners of the Pleasant Inn, a charming hotel in Ontario cottage country. It's summer, and the tourists are about to arrive when a dead body appears in the wine cellar. Detective Michal Brisbois represents the police, and an eccentric guest, Miss Miller, represents the Miss Marple school of investigation. Much jollity ensues. This is a nice, light, afternoon read.


— Margaret Cannon The Globe and Mail

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