Author: S.K. Golden
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Review:
3 stars. Look I enjoyed this but this was borderline lack luster compared to what was advertised or promised.
I was attracted to the cover and the premise: 1950s socialite that is itching to solve crimes while staying prim and proper as the heiress to her father’s hotel. It was like reading Marilyn Monroe (look, even the character maid allusions to her) as she ran around trying to solve murders in heels. It was a very good premise. It was as if Nancy Drew and Marilyn Monroe created a creature together.
But the pacing of the plot seemed rather slow and I think there were – at both times – missing some stuff and that there was too much happening. There were some areas that seemed to have been written rushed and makes me the reader question: “How did we get here?”, and then there were some areas wherein it makes the reader say: “We could have skipped that part, really.”
I do like the romantic premise but I think that we could have done without it. The romance was finely written but we really could have done without it.
Otherwise, the book is an easy read. It was enjoyable; easy to read and enjoyable.
Summary (via Goodreads):
The hotel was her refuge, but scandal is afoot—and a killer stalks the halls in this charming series debut perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Ashley Weaver.
It’s 1958 and Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy has not left the Pinnacle Hotel in fourteen months. She suffers from agoraphobia, and what’s more, it’s her father’s hotel, and everything she needs is there. Evelyn’s always been good at finding things, she discovered her mother dead in a Manhattan alleyway fifteen years earlier. Now she’s finding trouble inside her sanctuary. At a party for artist Billie Bell, his newest work is stolen, and Evelyn’s fake boyfriend (and real best friend), movie star Henry Fox, is
accused of the theft. But just as Evelyn sets out to prove Henry’s innocence, she finds Billie Bell dead.
The murder weapon links the crime to the hotel’s chief of security. But why would he use a knife with his initials on the handle? With her beloved home in disarray, Evelyn joins up with hotel employee (and her secret crush) Mac Cooper to get to the bottom of the case.
As Mac picks locks and Evelyn snoops around the hotel, they discover the walls around them contain more secrets than they previously knew. Now, Evelyn must force herself to leave the hotel to follow the clues—but when she and Mac set off to chase a lead, their car crashes and they barely escape with their lives. Someone snipped Evelyn’s brake lines, and now the stakes have become dangerously high.
Evelyn’s knack for sleuthing—and her playful imagination—are always hard at work, and she throws an elaborate party at the hotel where every guest is a suspect. But will the killer emerge from the glamorous lineup? If not, Evelyn just might find herself…next in line for murder.