Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Murder in the Mystery Suite (Book Retreat Mysteries #1) by Ellery Adams













Title: Murder in the Mystery Suite (Book Retreat Mysteries #1)
Author: Ellery Adams
Pages: 304
Year: 2014
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Berkley
Format: eBook (also available in paperback)

About the book:

     First in a new series!

     WHO WOULD RESORT TO MURDER?

     Tucked away in the rolling hills of rural western Virginia is the storybook resort of Storyton Hall, catering to book lovers who want to get away from it all. To increase her number of bookings, resort manager Jan Steward has decided to host a Murder and Mayhem week so that fans of the mystery genre can gather together for some role-playing and fantasy crime solving.

     But when the winner of the scavenger hunt, Felix Hampden, is found dead in the Mystery Suite, and the valuable book he won as his prize is missing, Jane realizes one of her guest is an actual murderer. Amid a resort full of fake detectives, Jane is bound and determined to find a real-life killer. There’s no room for error as Jane tries to unlock this mystery before another vacancy opens up…

My review:

     This is an incredible cozy mystery!

     I love the main characters in this book. They are extremely well developed and a pleasure to get to know. The variety is wonderful. The way that they interact with each other is fun and entertaining. I especially enjoyed the antics of Jane’s twin boys. 

     One of my favorite parts of the book was Storyton Hall itself. I would love to find a resort like it. It would be a delight to explore the different public rooms and libraries. Along with that I had a blast trying to see how many book, character, and author references there were in the naming of the actual places and characters in this fun book.

     The mystery and how it was plotted was fantastic. I was completely drawn into it and caught up in trying to figure out “who-dun-it” once the murder had occurred. There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing. I changed my mind a few times as to who the culprit was a few times.

     One of Jane’s friends is very vocal about her preference for “steamy” romances. That description pushed my limits for a clean read a little. That was the only down side to this wonderful book for me. I just kept reminding myself that we can’t control our friends and their tastes either.


     I have decided to give this great story a rating of 5 stars. I am definitely recommending it. I look forward to reading future books in this series.

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