*listened as an audiobook through Audible; narrated by Marian Hussey*

I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would going into it! I have (had) a backlog of Audible Premium credits that I was trying to use up, and the blurb sounded interesting, I so decided to risk it and see if it was all that (it was).

After the death of her grandmother, Cleopatra Fox is invited to live with her very wealthy, very estranged, family at the Mayfair Hotel, which they own. Unfortunately, on the day of her arrival, a hotel guest is murdered in their room. The inquisitive Cleo can’t help but poke around, and the resulting story is quite a fun little mystery.

I knew halfway through this story that I was going to be spending the rest of my backlogged credits to purchase the rest of the series. The narrator has a very pleasant voice, and the story itself is just really enjoyable. The characters felt relatable, and Cleo is definitely not one of those amateur investigators who just blunders their way into a solution. She’s very intelligent and she reads people well, but she doesn’t appear to have an unreasonable knowledge of criminal investigations. She isn’t running around lifting fingerprints off glassware or analyzing the body for bits of dirt from the killer’s shoes. She also doesn’t run headlong into danger, nor does she place others in harm’s way. At no point in this book did I find myself mentally shouting ‘oh my god you’re an idiot don’t do that!’

This doesn’t mean that Cleo doesn’t have a few flaws. She definitely makes mistakes, but she owns up and tries to fix them. She’s not snobby or vapid or rude; I actually found her to be a really likable character. Her family isn’t without their own flaws, but they also aren’t (usually) despicable or overly obnoxious. Rich? Yes. Unfortunately predisposed to some of that stereotypical rich-people snobbery? Also yes. But ultimately they feel like mostly decent, real people who just haven’t had any reason to think outside of their personal bubbles.

The plot itself was well executed. I couldn’t immediately leap to the conclusion, but it also didn’t turn out to be so out of left field that you wouldn’t have a prayer of guessing. The beginning might feel a bit slow for some people, but I really enjoyed the whole thing and didn’t find myself zoning out or getting distracted. I wanted to know more about all of the characters, even those who weren’t as involved, and even the snippets of day to day life that were included didn’t feel like needless fluff. I’m definitely looking forward to the next several books in the series (I may or may not have already started book 2).

Murder at the Mayfair Hotel - Likewise Book Reviews

3 Reviews