Last Resort

Janet Money, formerly the sports editor of the Woodstock Daily
Sentinel-Review, is a freelance writer and editor in London, Ontario.

This is the third Harriet Hubbley mystery in the series; and while, like
the others, this book is top-notch in its whodunit aspect, some of its
other features are beginning to wear thin—principally, the angst
experienced by Harriet over her relationship with her lesbian partner,
Judy. Will they rekindle their original ardor? Will Judy give up her
other girlfriends? Will they break up? These once suspenseful questions
are now becoming tiresome.

In Last Resort, Harriet travels to Key West to visit her friend Barb, a
former partner who owns a women’s guesthouse. Soon after Harriet
arrives, Barb is attacked and put into a coma. Harriet, Judy, and the
other guests are drawn into the mystery of who is responsible for the
attack. Harriet herself becomes a suspect when Barb’s will is read
prematurely, and it reveals that Harriet is to inherit most of the
guesthouse.

The intricacies of the present and past relationships of the various
women staying at the guesthouse are amusing, if a bit predictable, and
Last Resort is, for the most part, an enjoyable, even amusing, read. But
if the series is to maintain its appeal, some progress must take place
on the relationship front for Harriet. Her uncertainties are
understandable, but Manthorne risks losing readers to her heroine’s
boring indecision.