Murder by Death

Let's get what cost this book 1 full star out of the way first:

I hate Aunt Vi.  The character redefines immaturity.  In spite of being a woman "in her 70's" she acts, without exaggeration, like a narcissistic, ADHD, 8 year-old.  I suspect her character is meant to lend a quirky levity to the stories, but if that's the intent, it fails completely.  The character has no sympathetic qualities whatsoever.  She's single-handedly messing up an otherwise very good series.

If Aunt Vi was sucked up by aliens or otherwise missing from this narrative, what would be left would be a great cast of characters, great writing, and a pretty good murder plot.  Clyde and Mac are on their way to a Mexican holiday when an approaching blizzard shuts down the airport.  Attempting to find a safe haven to wait out the storm and salvage their weekend, they find a remote castle hotel that just so happens to be hosting a knitting retreat.  A knitting retreat being attending by both their mothers and the dreaded Aunt Vi.  Of course.  

The blizzard snows them in and someone is killed, of course.  Sadly, that someone was not Aunt Vi.  Thus begins a classic variation of the mystery, with a very limited list of suspects all closed in together.  Even though Clyde, her mother and (supposedly) her Aunt all have psychic gifts, they played a very small part in the overall story; easily less than 10%, which was a bummer.  I guessed the murderer but it wasn't a gimme; until the end, it could have been someone else and I wouldn't have been shocked.  

I enjoyed this one - probably not as much as the first and second book, but enough that I'll look forward to the next one.  In spite of Aunt Vi.