If you love paranormal mansions, feisty fortune tellers, and campy killers, then you’ll want to read this cozy mystery today!Welcome to Bohemian Lake, where murder and mayhem can be rented by the room. Gypsies, Traps & Missing Thieves is the first book of a series dedicated to the mysterious Caravan Manor resort.The magical manor is ready for an unparalleled weekend of beguiling games—where … beguiling games—where for a change—the charmed owners will be taking part in the clues, costumes, and red herrings.
Two days of harmless murder or so they think until a dead body is found at the bottom of a secret staircase. Rumors abound of history repeating and a ghost out for revenge. The Vianu ladies begin to wonder whether they are in danger but how can you know what’s real in a game of pretend.
While the series is best enjoyed in order, each book is a complete mystery on its own. For those of you who are new to my books, the Bohemian Lake series is a world comprised of multiple sets. Each set focuses on a different Bohemian resident(s), although all of the books intersect.
Bohemian Lake Reading Order:
Penning Trouble: Murder, She Floats,
Haunted House Flippers: Cookies, Corpses and the Deadly Haunt
Penning Trouble: Murder, She Slopes,
Haunted House Flippers: Candy Canes, Corpses and the Gothic Haunt
Bohemian Murder Manor: Gypsies, Traps & Missing Thieves
Bohemian Murder Manor: Make-Believes & Lost Memories
Haunted House Flippers: Crumb Cake, Corpses and the Run-of-the-Mill
Penning Trouble: Murder, Ye Bones
Bohemian Festival Fiasco: Nuttier than a Pecan Pie
Bohemian Murder Manor: Ouija, Death & Wicked Witchery
Bookish Adventures in Witch-Lit: Scandal & Gretel
Coming Soon!
Bookish Adventures in Witch-Lit: Hyde & Seek
Penning Trouble: Murder in the Catacombs
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Bohemian Lake sounds like a destination to avoid as a tourist – but its a great place to visit in this book – especially if you enjoy Rachael Stapleton’s particular brand of humor mixed with murder, mayhem and frustrating and confounding romance.
I enjoyed reading an advance copy – and very much enjoy this and the sister series, like the Penning Trubble mysteries.
Can the Bohemian Lake girls solve this mystery before its too late – maybe permanently ?
Fun and funny murder mystery !
What an awesome book of chaos, mayhem, mystery, and murder? Full of wonderful, wacky, and strange characters, a blizzard, a game off who dun it, that turned into a real murder! Confusion and weird and strange twists and turns, add to the drama! A blizzard, a murderer, no electricity, ghosts, and gunshots, all add to the misadventures. No phones, no cell phones, a million dollar coin, lies and betrayal, and secrets, who to trust? Will help arrive in time? Who will be the next to die?
“Gypsies, Traps, and Missing Thieves” earns 5/5 Magical Spells…Clever and Engaging!
Mystery murder weekend? Real murder weekend? A bit of witchery? Entertaining. Engaging. Rachel Stapleton has woven together in her third-person narration the perfect blend of magic with a clever murder mystery to challenge one’s inner Sherlock. Several possible conclusions were available, and I thought I’d figured it out, but the final reveal turned out to be a delightful surprise! The characters are enjoyable and seemingly well-developed for a first in the series which I attribute to the writing talent of Rachael Stapleton. Mallory is a favorite, but I really enjoyed Nana’s attitude and personality. All of this was greatly enriched by the voice artistry of Sarah Breidenbach.
I am a big fan of audiobooks, and this one was produced extremely well with 5/5 stars in all categories. At five hours, it is well worth the price of a credit, and the perfect length for a quiet couple of days. However, it was Sarah’s performance that made it hard to stop and finish household chores or go to bed. She went well beyond a traditional reading out loud with speed and emotions to add to the suspense, tone and accents (excellent voice for Nana’s Romanian dialect) to illustrate personality, and although the male voices can be tricky and some I’ve listen to have struggled with that, Sarah made a valiant effort for which I commend her. Her variety made it easy to recognize each character. The audio version was very reminiscent of a radio play adding some sound effects like phones ringing, dogs barking, the approaching storm to increase the overall enjoyment of the performance. I highly recommend Rachael Stapleton’s book in any form, but I was so entertained by Sarah’s voice talent, I recommend you go for the audio version!
A Murder Mystery Party sounds like a great idea until you’re not sure if it’s a game or reality. The story was written and performed (Audible version) so well it was hard to tell the difference. I enjoyed this book. Looking forward to more.
My fourth read from author Rachel Stapleton and it won’t be my last. Well written, the characters, well developed. I’m a character reader, I get into the characters. Who and what they are. Why they do the things they do. The things that make a reader get invested into the characters and thereby the book! Longer than my first two reads from Stapleton this book is even better, partially because of its longer length.
All the Bohemian Lake stories from Rachael Stapleton are a hoot. I love the characters. Interesting plot that left me wondering what was real and what was part of the mystery murder game. I count not put this one down.
Mallory Vianu manages her family’s Gypsy Caravan Manor Resort along with her Nana and adopted sister, Danior. The ladies capitalize on its beautiful, yet haunting, Victorian architecture and reputation for harboring an actual ghost or two, by hosting paranormal-themed events. This weekend they are trying out a new feature: a murder mystery weekend where the manor guests work to solve a “murder” during their stay. Presenting the event is an old friend of the family, Joelle Mackay, who recently started this new enterprise in an effort to revive her struggling business, so Mallory, Danior, and Nana are free to play along for a firsthand experience. If the event is successful, the Vianu ladies hope to incorporate it into their resort’s corporate event offerings.
With an unexpected spring blizzard headed their way and the guests beginning to arrive, Mallory is under the gun to ensure things still go off without a hitch. But, to add to the stress, she finds out that Nana has invited a special guest, a blind date for her granddaughter!
As the weather moves in, close friend Penny Trubble, headed to the airport to meet her significant other on vacation, and her driver, Police Detective Kaden Bones drop off a guest from town, Mal’s best friend, Rebel Rouse, and become stranded there themselves when all flights are canceled and the roads become impassable. The two new arrivals are added to the game and the evening’s activities start off smoothly enough, with the exception of two missing guests at the opening scenario. But when the body of one of the missing guests is found at the bottom of a secret, hidden staircase, and it’s not part of the script; Mallory knows one of the players is a murderer!
If you’ve been following the unfolding Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery series, you’ll recognize many of the characters in this first novel of off-shoot series, the Bohemian Murder Manor Mysteries. This storyline features the mysterious ladies of the Vianu family that operate the Gypsy Caravan Manor Resort on the lakeshore across from the town of Bohemian Lake.
And the ladies ARE mysterious. Matriarch Nana Vianu is known for her uncanny skills as a gypsy fortune teller. Mallory, her granddaughter, can see auras and talk to the spirit world. Danior was found as an infant and adopted into the family; who she is and where she came from is a complete mystery. And then there is the unexplained disappearance of Mallory’s mother, Jili, and her father’s death, both a decade earlier.
With the Victorian manor house setting the tone for spooky goings-on, this first story has it all: odd guests who are not who they say they are, ghostly apparitions, numerous bumps in the night, murder, tension, and suspicion all around. It is a complex tale but entertaining to watch as the players work their way through the mysteries: those of the game and those that are real.
I recommend this book to readers that enjoy cozy mysteries with a touch of the paranormal and that have read the previous books in the Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery series. This is definitely a mid-point in a series and would be difficult to follow and enjoy as a standalone story.
Good story. Plenty of wild geese and red herring.
The first book in the Bohemian Murder Manor Mysteries series follow the women of the Vianu family.
To help a friend’s business, The Vianu ladies decide to throw a murder mystery party at their resort manor. It’s all fun and games until the group stumbles upon a dead body and mysterious things begin happening that are not part of the murder mystery script…or is it?
Stapleton did a great job writing a story that I couldn’t figure out. I spent the entire book wondering if the murder was real or part of the game (I won’t spoil it for you). I also didn’t have a guess on who the murderer was, not even an inkling, which is rare because I can usually come up with some good theories. The author used both the participants real names and party names to add to my confusion. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a murder mystery party and this author made me feel like I was there. I probably had more fear for their lives than they did. Good story.