Hotel – Carol's Notebook

The Plaza by Julie Satow

February 22, 2024February 22, 2024 by Carol2 Comments

The Plaza was a fascinating look at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, its history, its owners, and some of the people who lived here over its history. The original hotel opened in 1890 and then reopened as the luxurious hotel we know in 1907. We follow its story from the Gilded Age, through the Jazz Age and Prohibition, two World Wars, to 2018. I loved the people's stories, from the construction workers to the rich and famous, even the fictional little girl, Eloise. It's a little bit like reading the society papers over the years. I didn't care quite as much about the real estate deals in more recent years. I listened to the audio though and the narrator, Jefferson Mays, kept me engaged throughout. The book is well-researched and I enjoyed it. I do think it might have been a bit tedious in print for me, but mostly because I cared more about the anecdotes and less about the...

The Maid by Nita Prose

February 1, 2022February 1, 2022 by Carol4 Comments

Molly Gray is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, a five-star boutique hotel. She loves her job, from her uniform to her daily tasks. She is efficient and detail-oriented. She does think a bit differently from the average person. She has trouble with social cues and tends to take things literally. When she discovers a hotel guest dead, her whole life is disrupted. She quickly becomes a suspect. The Maid is told from Molly's point of view. She's delightful and endearing, socially awkward, and honest to a fault. I liked her, mostly. I also wanted to shake some sense into her. She's clearly neurodiverse, but that is never explicitly mentioned. She's also inconsistent, which works well with the plot, but doesn't feel true to her character. To the reader, it seems absurd that anyone would consider Molly capable of murder. We've seen her be manipulated and misunderstanding situations. We're thankful that it turns out she has friends on her side. We...

Getaway With Murder by Diane Kelly

November 2, 2021November 1, 2021 by Carol4 Comments

I like when I get to start a series at the beginning. Our amateur sleuth in Getaway with Murder is Misty Murphy, the new owner of the Mountaintop Lodge. Our murder victim is of course one of her guests. Things I liked about Getaway with Murder: Our main character is 50, with plenty of life experience. Also, her love interest is a couple of years younger than her and not involved in law enforcement.The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina is a wonderful setting.The secondary, probably returning, characters are a slightly quirky bunch who will be fun to spend time with.The plot was well-done. The clues were there if you caught them, but also plenty of red herrings. And there were a few reasonable suspects in the circle. Things I didn't like: A few chapters were from the cat's point of view, which I wasn't expecting based on the blurb. I like pets in cozies, but don't really need their thoughts or opinions. While...

Murder at the Magnolia Inn by Helena Marchmont

October 14, 2021November 12, 2021 by CarolNo Comments

I really enjoy the Bunburry stories. The characters are fun and quirky and the setting is a typical, lovely small town, with an incompetent police sergeant. This time around Alfie, Liz, Marge, and Emma agree to help the two women who are developing the old manor house into a hotel. At first, they're dealing with vandalism, then a man is killed. The characters are what bring me back to this series. Alfie is funny and in this one his women troubles are mostly set aside. Marge and Liz are smart older women and I wish I had their fudge recipe. Emma is caring and I don't know how/why she puts up with the sergeant. Oscar has an interesting part too. I'm hoping we start seeing him around Bunburry more. The mystery was a bit rushed, but the solution made sense and I liked that it took all of our investigators to find the various bits that came together in the end. I'm looking...

Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 by Carol4 Comments

I loved the setting in Death at High Tide. We have a 1920s hotel that was updated a bit too much in the 70s on a remote island in the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall. The island can only be reached at low tide and it's off season, so very few people are staying there. Like any good isolated setting, we have a limited number of people. Evie and her sister, Margot, are our main characters. Evie's husband has recently died, leaving Evie on pretty shaky financial ground. But, there were papers that suggested she may be the owner of the hotel, so Evie and Margot head off, to see the hotel and to get away for a weekend. The sisters are a good pair, opposites who nevertheless support each other when push comes to shove. We've got the husband and wife who own the hotel, a couple of staff, and an older, nosy woman who lives there...

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland

August 15, 2021August 11, 2021 by Carol2 Comments

Family drama is not usually my cup of tea, but Last Summer at the Golden Hotel was a perfect summer read. In the 1960s, two Jewish families bought a hotel in the Catskills. Back in those early days, the hotel was the place to be seen and the Catskills was the place to vacation. Sixty years later, the hotel is run-down and the clientele is definitely slipping. The two families' children are grown and have families of their own. They decide to meet at, "The Golden" for one last summer vacation to reminisce and discuss whether it's time to sell and leave the business. I loved the mix of tension and love between and within the families. I loved the touch of nostalgia and wish I could visit The Golden in its heyday. We've got secrets and scandals, money issues and memories. And honestly I liked all the characters, well except the one who was just clearly a bad guy. And...