I knew I had to read this book when I learned the setting for the story was my hometown. How cool is that!

Ashley, the owner of the Skullduggery Inn, is a girl after my own heart. She’s a huge book fan and named the rooms in her inn after her favorite authors. My mother stayed at The Marriott Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Her favorite movie is Somewhere In Time and she got to stay in the room they used for the movie. There are references to books and movies laced throughout the story.

The story takes place in Fairhope, Alabama, on Mobile Bay. Ashley hurries down to the bay when she hears there’s a Jubilee. A Jubilee is when the small fish, crabs, shrimp and such swarm to shallow waters due to low oxygen in the bay. This only happens in two places in the world. Here and in Japan. I’ve been to several and you can literally wade in and scoop up some good eats.

That is Ashley’s plan until her excitement is shattered when she reaches down and stops just short of grabbing a human foot, which is still attached to a body. Panicked, she looks around for someone to help her when one of her guests,Trevor Stone, happens along. She sends him to notify the authorities and waits for his return. And she waits. And waits.

Finally she gives up and returns to the inn, where she finds Trevor sound asleep. He says he never saw the body so maybe she was mistaken.

When the police arrive she leads them to the spot where she found the body and all that’s there is a piece of driftwood. The officer is convinced that’s what she saw and mistook for a dead person in the dark. But Ashley knows better.

With nothing else she can do about it, she hurries to get her fresh catch ready to serve up to her guests later that night. Opening a pantry door she discovers come kittens. The mother cat slips outside and she rushes to catch her. Stumbling through the woods she steps through to the beach and what does she find. Sitting on a bench is the dead guy from the night before. He’s still dead and starting to smell ripe.

I really enjoyed the scenes with the kittens. It made me think of the restaurant owners on the causeway that takes you across Mobile Bay. They work with the local veterinarians to capture, vaccinate, and spay or neuter the cats before setting them loose again. This keeps them healthy and the population under control.

The cat coalition and restaurant owners work together to feed the cats. There are many dangers for them on the causeway. Snakes and alligators. They are not your friendly house cats. They’re feral and wise. I’m sure some slip through those traps and surprise the owners with their kittens.

Back to the scene of the crime. There’s no cell service so she has to return to the inn to call the police and once again, when they arrive, the body is gone. Ashley is in the middle of something strange and will get to the bottom of it one way or another.

This was such a good mystery, funny with a hint of romance. It was made more fun as I recognized a lot of the places described in the book. I knew the location of The Skullduggery Inn and the place where Ashley first saw the body in the bay. I often went fishing there with my brother.

Now, when I go there, I’ll be thinking of this book and looking for dead bodies. LOL

I should tell you, this is a short story, a teaser for more books to come. You are left hanging out to dry, but the ending is still a good one. I’ll be diving into more of this series. ( )

I received this book from Member Giveaway.

"My Favorite Corpse" is a short story full of potencial, but unfortunately I didn't think it delivered all that it promissed. Ashley, the owner of a crime themed inn finds a body on the beach. And later, she finds it again on a garden bench. This because, every time she tries to get help, the body disappears. Can Ashley trust Trevor, the guest for whom she has a crush, but who doesn't take her serious? How can Ashley convince the police if the body insists on disappearing? And who is the misterious stranger lurking around the inn?

Yeah, it had potencial, but to me it failed because nothing is explained at the end. I understand it is part of a series and I would be ok with some things left unsolved but at least the questions related to the body should have been answered in my opinion. After all, it's the title of the short story... ( )

A nice, short mystery story. Written in a nice style, humorous and easygoing, and the story keeps you guessing, right up to the end.
Not a very traditional mystery, with a protagonist that is not very keen to go sleuthing and a corpse that keeps disappearing. So, not really what I had expected of a mystery, but I really enjoyed it, it's a great read for a cozy evening at home.

I am curious to know what's up with Trevor, so I sort of hope he will be returning in other 'Skullduggery Inn'-stories :) ( )

What a cute little story "My Favorite Corpse ( A Skullduggery Inn Short Story) is. The story takes place in Fairhope, Alabama not from Mobile at The Skullduggery Inn overlooking the bay. The Inn is owned by a woman named Ashley and her sister Kiki, the theme of the Inn is literature with many of the rooms named after great authors with the decor to match the novels. One of Ashley's guest at The Inn is a man named Trevor, who has rented a room for a year. He is a very mysterious, handsome man, who comes and goes as he choose and claims to be a insurance actuary. The night of the Jubilee ( a natural phenomenon that occurs sporadically on the shores of Mobile Bay in which many species of crabs, shrimp, as well as flounder, eels, and other demersal fish will leave deeper waters and swarm—in large numbers right up onto the coast, where people will catch the bounty to enjoy. Ashley sees a corpse in the water and that is when the fun and mystery begins in " My Favorite Corpse."

My favorite part of the book is " My scream morphed into sobs. What was a corpse doing with all my fish? Jubilee is a happy time and you just don’t expect to find something so awful, so atrocious mixed in with all the lovely fish."- Ashley. This is my favorite quote in the book because it seems to backwards to me. Why would the death of thousands of sea life be something to celebrate? Because you get a meal for free? The whole Jubilee in my opinion is a horrible death for thousands of innocent sea life, I understand it's nature but still. It seems sorta of fitting that a corpse would be with the dead sea life, makes it just enough of a eyebrow raiser. Not sure if that is what the author had in mind but I hope others see it. ( )