I love Martha Grime's Richard Jury series but I found this book too slow for my taste. Not that I only like "fast" books but often I didn't know where this book was going. On the plus side, "Hotel Paradise" is filled with interesting, and often fascinating, Southern characters. The main character is delightful and at 12 years old, she's more mature than most of the adults around her. The plot, which I believe dangles too much, is about this 12 year old girl who becomes determined to solve the mystery of a 40 year old murder. Events become even more complicated after another girl is murdered shortly after she begins her investigation.
A 12-year-old girl finds out about a girl who drowned in the local lake 40 years ago. Was it an accident or was it murder? To find out, she sets out to enlist help from townspeople who might remember the incident. Before she finds an answer though, a woman related to the case winds up dead.
This book was a really good, "old-fashioned" mystery. The characters are so well-written, especially the townspeople like Mr. Root and the brothers Ubub and Ulub. The little girl who narrates the story is so eloquent and emotional that you forget she is still a young girl.
This book was a really good, "old-fashioned" mystery. The characters are so well-written, especially the townspeople like Mr. Root and the brothers Ubub and Ulub. The little girl who narrates the story is so eloquent and emotional that you forget she is still a young girl.
Lots of attention to details of the natural beauty. The mystery takes place in a faded resort area and is told through the eyes of an adolecsent. I found the plot slow moving. Also thought it would be more effective to have adult narrating the impressions of the 12 year old girl. The descriptive writing was excellent however.
Martha Grimes writes mystery very well, although this one is told through the eyes of a 12 year old girl, who gets caught up in the local stories of the death of another 12 year old, 40 years in the past. When another young woman's body is found, her curiousity cannot be contained.
Martha Grimes, author of quirky mysteries, gets inside the heads of 12-year-old girls better than any other author I've read.
I just loved this book. The writing is whimsical, interesting, engaging. The pacing is nice and slow, allowing you to achieve an intimate familiarity with the town and the characters. Just loved it.
Interesting mystery to me, as it was told from the POV of a tween girl who shared a similar childhood. Probably all the mystery readers here will find they had a lot in common with the heroine. First in the series that includes Cold Flat Junction, Belle Ruin and End of the Pier.
Good read. Kept my interest from beginning to end.
Martha Grimes has a way with words that brings the world she has created into focus. It makes it a pleasure to read. The only negative to this book is that it "traveled" too slowly for me.
A neglected lake...a faded resort...the death of a 12 year old girl 40 years ago. Compelling characters, intricate suspense.
Another "mystery-in-the-past" novel, this one with a charming young girl as protaganist.
The death of a 12 year old, 40 years back, is investigated by another young girl in a derelict house.
Utterly Engaging.
Probably one of the most immersing book experiences I have had (also listened to the soundtrack from Field of Dreames by james Hormer along with it!). I was so lost in Emma's world that to climb out of it every day was almost beyond me. This special kind of experience while reading is few and far between - it happened to me with Durrell's JUSTINE, Payne's EARLY FROM THE DANCE. This book was so evocative - it plunged me immediately into this amazingly written story. I've read all 4 books now, but this one, like a magical childhood, has the most power over me. I've gone back to it every now and then (it was 5 yrs ago I first read it) to find those places of laughter and parts where I nearly jumped out of my skin. And let me tell you, the James Horner music is as if it were written FOR this book or some future film of it that we can only hope for!
From back of book:
A neglected lake, covered with water lilies. A once fashionable, now faded resort. A derelict house full of secrets, uninhabited for almost half a century. The death of a twelve-year old girl forty years in the past. And another girl who beomes obsessed with this death. With her knack for encouraging adults to reminisce, she begins to piece together puzzles from the past and present.
HOTEL PARADISE is a delicate yet disturbing view of the decisions a young girl must make on her way to becoming an adult... and the choices she must make between right and wrong, love and truth, life and death........
A neglected lake, covered with water lilies. A once fashionable, now faded resort. A derelict house full of secrets, uninhabited for almost half a century. The death of a twelve-year old girl forty years in the past. And another girl who beomes obsessed with this death. With her knack for encouraging adults to reminisce, she begins to piece together puzzles from the past and present.
HOTEL PARADISE is a delicate yet disturbing view of the decisions a young girl must make on her way to becoming an adult... and the choices she must make between right and wrong, love and truth, life and death........
Brand new condition; given to me as a gift; not my cup of tea so it is here. hope you enjoy.
