Murder at Hotel 1911 by Audrey Keown

I know that I have had almost nothing but book reviews recently, but I have been doing a lot of reading! Plus, I like to share good books with the people. Speaking of, thank you to Audrey Keown and the team at NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of Murder at Hotel 1911! The book publishes September 8, 2020.

For starters, my friend Kate at A Thought and a Half introduced me to Ms. Keown after she had interviewed her for her podcast. Audrey and I connected on Instagram, and the rest is history. Also, if you aren’t following Kate yet, you totally should be. She creates awesome recipes that are completely drool-worthy.

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Murder at Hotel 1911

The story follows Ivy Nichols, a twenty-eight year old hotel clerk who shares an apartment with her father in Chattanooga. Ivy is plagued by severe panic attacks, which has made it difficult for her to hold a steady job or complete her (higher) education.

Hotel 1911 is a period hotel of luxury. It’s an old family mansion turned boutique hotel, complete with family style dinner where guests are encouraged to “dress the part”.

You come to learn that Hotel 1911 belonged to Ivy’s ancestors, and she’s determined to find answers about her past. After her mother walked out on Ivy and her father, she’s struggled with moving on.

One evening, while Ivy is working, one of the hoity-toity guests dies at dinner, beginning an investigation into potential foul play with Ivy’s best friend (and the hotel chef), George, as the prime suspect. Ivy doesn’t believe it and sets her sights on clearing her friend’s name.

My Thoughts

I love a good mystery. Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors. I mean, you can pick up any of her books and enjoy it. I could tell that’s the kind of direction and feel that Murder at Hotel 1911 was going. The subtitle is “An Ivy Nichols Mystery”.

However, since I was comparing it to Agatha Christie, the book fell a little short to me. There was a fairly large portion in the middle where I was bored. Then, you got a bit of an exciting twist, and we were back to boring again.

The ending was unexpected, as all good mysteries are. However, the trail of clues to be able to predict the killer was almost too faint.

In the end, I loved reading a new story from a brand new author. Plus, Audrey is in Chattanooga, writing about Chattanooga, so it was nice to read a novel that takes place in the south. I definitely look forward to reading future novels from Audrey Keown and keeping up with more Ivy Nichols mysteries!

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