Hotel Paradise

Amazingly, I just found out that Martha Grimes is not a British author! 

I have read all her Richard Jury mystery novels and they all have titles that are supposed to be English Pubs.  So surprise that Grimes is actually from Pittsburgh and Maryland.  This novel, Hotel Paradise, is autobiographical of a setting that Grimes grew up with.  As a young girl she spend her summers at the Hotel her mother owned and managed. 

Similar to the main character in this series of mysteries, Emma is a young girl who. while her mother is busy running the kitchen of the Hotel Paradise, finds interesting ways to occupy her time. She is expected to help out in the kitchen and wait tables at meal times, but otherwise she has a lot of free time on her hands.  She has an elderly aunt who lives in the hotel who she visits in her room.  She brings her drinks and food in exchange for stories about the past.  In this mystery novel Emma has discovered a story of a young girl who drowned forty years ago.  Through newspaper articles and talking to her aunt and other older citizens of the town who may have lived there at the time, she tries to reconstruct what happened.  She tries to find out what would make a twelve year old girl commit suicide or was it murder?   She seems to spend her days hanging out with a waitress at the local diner and following the police chief around town. 

The book has wonderful descriptive language that is more a character study of the people in this small area.  There are many different types of people living here being described from the perspective of a twelve year old girl.  She seems to accept her position in life and be accepting and tolerant of all the people around her.  Though the other characters point out the stereotypes and prejudices toward others, Emma, our protagonist is always reasonable and understanding.  There is no violent crime and the actual mystery does not seem to be the focus or point of the plot.  The mystery just seems to be the vehicle that drives the story of Emma and her adventures.