I loved this book as much as I enjoyed the Ramona Quimby books that I grew up reading. I really enjoyed realizing that Emily's Runaway Imagination was based on Cleary's own life. It was interesting to see her early life on a farm and then the changes that came from her family's move to suburbia.

Cleary explains her early writing experiences explaining that she wanted to read books as a child that were realistic. Her school and family experiences gave great insight.

This is also a great history of being a child in the depression era.

This is a great book for anyone who curled up with a copy of Henry Huggins or Ellen Tebbitts!

I grew up in the 1970's reading Beverly Cleary cover to cover and voraciously! I LIVED to get another Beverly Cleary book. I am now an 8th grade Reading teacher, and kids still love her books to pieces (sometimes literally). A student of mine who is researching Cleary for her author research project showed me this book. I read it in its entirety in 24 hours. I literally could not put it down. I recognized many episodes in her life that showed up in her books. I was surprised to find out she was an only child. For some reason, I always thought she had an older sister like Beezus! Beverly Cleary is the greatest!

Like the other reviewers here, I was addicted to the books of Beverly Cleary when I was child. Mrs. Cleary's books provided me endless hours of enjoyment, and I still remember laughing out loud at the adventures and misadventures of her characters. Eventually, I grew up and Mrs. Cleary's books became just fond remembrances of my childhood.

Remembrances are what they remained until I re-read "Otis Spofford" a couple weeks ago. Despite my age, I still found myself laughing out loud while I read it. It was that experience that led me to read "A Girl from Yamhill." I wanted to find out more about the woman whose mere name on a book ensured to me as a child a wonderful reading experience.

What a terrific autobiography! I read it in one day. I loved the simple, but honest writing style that can also be found in her fictional books. I also recognized many of the experiences of her girlhood that eventually ended up among the adventures of her fictional characters: tin cans and twine, misinterpreting the words to national anthem, the boys chewing garlic, and the green paint for Christmas. However, what struck me as the best part of "A Girl from Yamhill" was how ordinary Beverly Bunn was as a girl. She wasn't poor or rich. She got good grades; but occassionally they slipped. She wasn't in the popular cliques; but she wasn't an outcast. She never got into any major trouble; but she wasn't a saint. Yes, her mother was emotionally detached and controlling; but she wasn't abusive or meanspirited. Teenaged Beverly spends alot of time worrying about her clothes and boys just like any other teenage girl. I was amazed how much I enjoyed reading about the life of an average, ordinary girl. Of course, that girl did have one major talent- she could write, and that talent is what makes "A Girl from Yamhill" such a joy- Beverly Cleary is a fantastic writer. She brings everything so vividly to life, and provides the reader not only insight into her own character, but also gives a glimpse of what life was really like in the Oregon of the 1920's and 30's. A great, great book!

In this book Judith McMonigle, madcap proprietor of a bed-and-breakfast, leaves her establishment to go on a vacation to Vancouver with her cousin and best friend, Renie. They go to the Clovia Hotel, a favorite with Renie and her husband, and while there they meet Marie, a girlhood friend who was a professional dancer and is now married to Max, a famous producer. Marie asks her old friends to join her and her friends who are all luminaries in the theater. Early in the book there is a murder, and Marie and her friends are the chief suspects. Judith, of course, feels that she is better qualified to solve the case than are the local police investigators. She and Renie follow several red herrings and pursue the pasts of each of their eight companions, with sometimes disastrous, sometimes hilarious results. This is a pleasant "cozy" for those who enjoy the genre.

After writing volumes "A" through "O" of the Alpine series, Mary Daheim is stretching the story lines a bit thinly. In this entry Emma is still depressed over the death of her lover in the previous book. A local judge receives threatening letters which she asks Emma to investigate, while one of the judge's distant relatives is killed. Emma feels that the two cases are related and she begins the investigation with the help of her friend Vida and Sheriff Milo. This series may make it all the way to "Z", but it will be a stretch.

As I have stated before, I do like this Mary Daheim series much better than the Bed and Breakfast series. The characters in this one are much more believable and the situations much more real-to-life. This episode revolves around a local judge getting a poison pen letter threatening her with exposure of a dark secret, about which she hasn't a clue. Ms. Daheim interweaves the current mystery with snippets from the past involving ancestors of the current Alpine residents, particularly those about which the story includes. She does a credible job with tying it all together and there were several aspects of this particular story I liked: Ed Bronsky, a character I do not care about, appears only in one scene; the story involves mostly Emma, Vida, and Milo; Emma is getting over the death of Tom. I would recommend this series to any mystery lover.

It is always a pleasure to return to Alpine..I hope the next installment comes out soon. I only wish that Ms. Daheim's Bed and Breakfast series was as well written!

I really want to like this Mary Daheim series of Bed and Breakfast Mysteries. I am a devout fan of her other series, The Alpine books. But time and again I keep shaking my head at the lead character, Judith's, actions. Why in the world would she want her foul mouthed, disagreeable, insulting mother any where near her? Any normal person would be dancing a jig to get some distance between them! And this worrying about what Joe thinks....it's her house, and if he didn't like anything, I'd tell him to take a hike!! Please!

The end to this mystery is so convuluted one would need a chart to try to figure it out. I've read all the previous novels in this series, and keep hoping that they will live up to their sister series, the Alpine novels. Not yet.

I've read much worse books, but this one is certainly no mystery classic.

Judith McMonigle Flynn runs a bed-and-breakfast in the Seattle area. Her latest guests are the egotistical opera star, Mario Pacetti, and his entourage. Judith is led a merry chase while she keeps up with the various demands of this group. She and her cousin Renie decide to go to Pacetti's performance, but during the first show he dies! Since Judith's policeman husband is away at a convention, what's a girl to do but to solve the mystery without him. The plot and its solution are somewhat convoluted but, all in all, this is a satisfying mystery with amusing characters.

This is one book in a series of bed-and-breakfast mysteries set in Seattle, Washington. Anyone familiar with the city can tell that the author, Mary Daheim, has changed the place names, but retained the feel of the city in accurate descriptions. Heraldsgate Hill is really Queen Anne Hill. Norway General Hospital is really Swedish Hospital. Papaya Pete's restaurant is really Trader Vics. Donner and Blitzen department store is really the now defunct Frederick and Nelsons. Nordquist is Nordstroms. The Belle Epoch is The Bon Marche, now known just as The Bon. Moonbeams coffee house is really Starbucks, and so on. The descriptions are so accurately and fondly drawn that the reader experiences a warm sense of being there, especially if one has actually lived in Seattle at one time. The relationships of the characters are sometimes feisty but honest and often very funny. I recommend this whole series.

Of all this series, I cared for this one the least. It took place away from the familiar neighborhood, the B&B and although the "coz's" were together, I missed Joe and the rest of the characters.

In this installment of the Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery series, Judith Flynn goes to the Mountain Goat Lodge to cater a weekend retreat for some phone company executives. Cousin Renie has invited her along because she is making a presentation to the board and her caterer has dropped out at the last minute. What was to be a short 1-day trip turns into several days as a giant blizzard snows them in to the lodge. The characters reveal themselves to be a self-centered bunch, interested only in advancing their careers. Judith and Renie discover a skeleton while they are out exploring and then several murders ensue. Everyone there realizes that it must be somebody at the lodge, so there is much fear and mutual distrust. After several red herrings, Judith, of course, deduces who the murderer is. This is a good read, if you enjoy cozies.

I was very surprised by some of the negative comments left concerning this installment of the B and B Mystery Series. I thought this one was terrific! Yes, I did miss the "old folks at home" (Joe, Gertrude, the Rankers, and Sweetums), but there were plenty of interesting people trapped in the Inn with Judith and Renie. I found this not only a biting commentary on corporate America, but a wonderful homage to some of the great murder mysteries out of our past, particularly Then There Were None (also known as Ten Little Indians). Anyone who could not understand how the bodies "piled up like cordwood" must never had enjoyed the pleasures of a creepy old "we're trapped, now what" scenario. I just wish someone would have the sense to start making some tv movies of this series!! Can't wait for the next one!

Judith and Renie and their respective spouses take a trip to England. While their husbands fish in Scotland, the girls visit relatives of Judith's pen pal. The matriarch of the family takes a liking to them, and when she is murdered, leaves them her gate house and a whole lot of trouble.

This is typical of the series, nothing really special about it, but it is entertaining.

Accompanying their husbands on a trip to England, Judith and Renie look forward to spending time with a former pen pal's family. They are invited to an old country manor while their husbands take a fishing trip to Scotland. The owner of the estate is Aunt Petulia, a 90-something dowager who controls and bullies her family with the promise of the considerable inheritance which will go to the favored relative upon her death. When Aunt Petulia is poisoned with chocolate candy, there are many suspects among her greedy heirs. Wills appear and disappear and it is unclear as to who is to inherit her fortune. There are several skeletons in the family closet, including illegitimate children and runaway teenagers. Judith and Renie are led a merry chase trying to discover the identity of the killer. When they find out who the killer is, they are almost the next victims. This is another enjoyable "cozy" from author Judy Dahiem, with the added attraction of having England as the background.

I always love Mary Daheim's sweet, cozy mysteries. This one is more simple than most, with only a novice mystery reader not being able to figure out the situation early on. But still a worthy read.

Judith McMonigle and her new husband, Police Lieutenenat Joe Flynn, set off optimistically for the Oregon coast to spend their honeymoon. A dune buggy accident sends Joe to the hospital and leaves Judith alone in a spacious cottage. She decides to ask her cousin Renie to come and keep her company while Joe is on the mend. As soon as Renie arrives, the cousins find a dead body, that of their landlady. They become involved in the tangled affairs of the the landlady's family and their past, as they conduct their own investigation of the murder. Another dead body appears and the cousins become even more confused about the identity of the perpretrator. This is another entertaining "cozy" from the dependable Judith Daheim and should be pleasing to her fans.

Mary Daheim's 12th (I think) Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery is a BIG disappointment. I really try to support my fellow Washingtonians when they turn author, buying works which I freely admit are not always first-rate. I enjoy the local color and keep hoping they'll improve if we faithful readers keep them financially afloat. BUT...after a dozen books, Daheim is getting worse, not better, and I am pulling the plug! Wed and Buried lacks suspense, lacks humor, and lacks charm. Sleuth Judith Flynn is more than usually limp and brainless, cop husband Joe is boring and patronizing, and standbys such as Cousin Renie and Obnoxious Mom lack enough buoyancy to keep this leaden tome afloat. A Cozy Mystery, by definition, should have charm and chuckles. If it's played for farce, it needs the kind of wacky realism one recognizes in good screen comedy--real people caricatured to the point of hilarity. If it's played for satire, it requires a dry understated wit. Daheim, by contrast, has created a cartoon version of Luci and Desi--a charmless Desi and a whiny Luci. Cousin Renie repeatedly asks Judith why she's bothering to try to solve the mystery of the dead disk jockey, and long before the last page, I found myself wondering the same thing. Why bother, Judith, to solve this mystery? Why bother, Mary, to WRITE this mystery? Why bother, Dear Reader, to read this mystery? Never again.

Having read the other 11 books in this series, I was a little disappointed in this one. The book starts out well enough with the wedding of Judith Flynn's son Mike and his long-time girlfriend, Kristen. We have heard a lot about Mike in previous books in the series, but this is the first time he has actually appeared in one. While they are at the rehearsal dinner for Mike's wedding, Judith sees a man in a tux pushing a woman in a bridal gown over a balcony. When her policeman husband Joe is unable to find a body, Judith begins to doubt her sanity. Thereafter we are introduced to a parade of characters, who seem eccentric but somewhat disconnected. Judith, of course, continues her own investigation, trying to stay one step ahead of her husband. The plot is hard to follow and when the killer was revealed I almost didn't care any more. In her attempt to throw out red herrings, author Danheim just makes this book difficult to read.

Yes, more please. I have introduced Mary Daheim and her Bed and Breakfast novels to many of my friends. They read and also beg for more. Keep them coming.

UGH!! I have read every mystery in this series so far. I keep reading them because I love the setting, etc, and try my best to ignore the lead character. But I can do it no longer. The Bed and Breakfast series makes me feel like I am reading about the Betty Crocker 1950's. Judith's prizewinning husband is truly a jackass, and she simpers and caters to him like a spineless idiot. What good old Joe needs is a boot out the door. Maybe then Judith could be the independant character she showed the potential of being in the first book of the series. Ane Renie! Oh please! If I read one more time about how Bill had to have his dinner on time every day....if he's so worried about it, let him cook it himself! I just hope that the much better Alpine series by the same author never becomes this disgusting.

I usually enjoy Mary Daheim's books. They are improbable but entertaining. This one is beyond the pale. Judith intrudes on a police investigation without reason or invitation. She invites the woman who stole her fiance, leaving her pregnant and with no alternative than the awful Dan, and that's just the beginning. I lost all sympathy for the doormat, and her investigations annoyed me. I ended up giving the book away.

It's Christmas time, and Judith Flynn has decided that she and the neighbors on her cul-de-sac should celebrate by decorating their houses. Eveyone thinks it's a great idea except for the crabby Enid Goodrich who seems to be lacking in Christmas spirit. She has been a detriment to the neighborhood for some time and it's hard to find genuine sympathy among her neighbors when she is killed with a hatchet just before Christmas. Of course this means that there are lots of suspects because Enid has offended almost everyone she has come in contact with. This includes her rather unsavory relatives who dislike her as much as everyone else. Judith and her cousin, Renie, do their usual sleuthing job and Judith finally comes up with the identity of the killer. This is enjoyable reading for fans of this genre.