Hotel Paradise [Paperback]

Martha Grimes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 1997

Spirit Lake, near Hotel Paradise, is notorious because a small child drowned there, over 40 years ago. A local 12-year-old girl has becomed obsessed with solving this mystery, and when a second death occurs, she begins to put together the pieces of a past and present puzzle.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Grimes's mystery-spinning skills take a backseat to character development and human relationships in her second, quite appealing "literary" novel (after The End of the Pier). She etches an enchanting portrait of spunky Emma Graham, the 12-year-old narrator, an incorrigibly inquisitive girl with a love of rib-sticking food. Tethered to table-waiting responsibilities in the family's frayed-at-the-edges resort hotel, Emma's only connection to youngsters her age is her consuming interest in the death by drowning of another 12-year-old girl 40 years ago: wearing a party dress, Mary-Evelyn Devereau apparently fell from a rowboat on nearby Spirit Lake in the middle of the night. Cleverly manipulating crotchety old ladies and backwoodsy old men in her pursuit of answers, Emma discovers that Mary-Evelyn's aunt Rose ran off with Ben Queen. The recent murder of their daughter, Fern Queen, and the spectral presence of a girl resembling the deceased Rose compound Emma's quest. Emma's take on the colorful characters in her small-town world?from the "bedeviled by silence" retarded Wood brothers to her great aunt Aurora, who lives on gin and fried chicken delivered by hotel dumbwaiter?makes this both a provocative study of lonely people and a delightful read. The suspense is value-added.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?Swirling in a fog of hints and possibilities, Hotel Paradise leaves readers pondering and replaying the story over and over again. Told from the point of view of a bright 12-year-old girl and set in small-town America, it begs comparison with Olive Burns's Cold Sassy Tree (Ticknor & Fields, 1984) and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. With her father dead, her older brother occupied with his own pursuits, and her mother obsessed by the managing of Hotel Paradise, the young heroine is ignored and adrift. Friendless except for the few adults in the nearby town who take an interest in her, she is nameless until the end of the book. She becomes obsessed by an event that occurred 40 years previously, the drowning of another ignored and unloved 12-year-old, Mary-Evelyn Devereau. When a Devereau relative is found murdered, the narrator sets out to connect all the clues and solve the mystery. Grimes's depiction of the main character's observations and imagination rings true. This book should appeal to YAs in its descriptions of family, adults, and life situations from a young person's point of view. The lack of a neat ending may be disappointing at first, but there is so much food for thought in this book that many teens will find it enjoyable and thought-provoking.?Carol DeAngelo, Garcia Consulting Inc., at EPA, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (March 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747251355
• ISBN-13: 978-0747251354
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,787,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of twenty-one Richard Jury novels, as well as the novels Dakota and Foul Matter, among others. Her previous two Jury books, The Old Wine Shades and Dust, both appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I adore this book., October 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hotel Paradise (Hardcover)

I must disagree with the reader who skewers this book so dreadfully (regarding a 12 year-old's vocabulary). Perhaps one of the reasons I responded so viscerally to Grimes' book is that I was a 12 year-old exactly like this narrator--bookish and full of Victorian words better written than pronounced. In "Hotel Paradise," Grimes creates a book that completely pulled me in and when it ended, I was saddened because then I had to give up the narrator's world, one I happily entered for a period of hours. I will collect Martha Grimes' books happily now (this was my first one). I most heartily recommend this book to anyone who likes books for the way they are written, and to those who can use their own imaginations when they read--after all, isn't that part of the fun of reading fiction? Grimes is no dime-store novel simpleton. Her words leap off of the page and the phrases in "Hotel Paradise" are almost edible. Buy this book in hardcover and loan it to a friend when you are finished.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book that fiction readers may miss in mystery sect, September 22, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Hotel Paradise (Hardcover)

This is the second of Martha Grimes books which depart from her usual fun English mystery format and I think it is much more successful than the first attempt. This book tells the story of a 12 year old girl living with her Mother in a run-down resort hotel who becomes obsessed with understanding why a girl her age drowned in the lake in front of their property 40 years ago. It is really a great coming of age story about a young girl who has been emotionally abandoned by her family and who needs find a place for herself and understand that sometimes one person in a family may become the family scapegoat for reasons they can't control. You will love the main character. She is spunky and intelligent and brave. This book is usually cataloged in the mystery section but is really just good fiction and shouldn't be overlooked by those people who say "I don't read mysteries".

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect vacation book!, March 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hotel Paradise (Emma Graham Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to disagree with the negative reviews printed here. Hotel Paradise is exactly the kind of book I love to read. I took it on vacation and lounged in the sun with it for several days. As soon as it ended, I started it again. Martha Grimes obviously has a great respect for young people and their intuitive view of the adult world. I wasn't bothered at all at the lack of plot action or mystery resolution. The resolution is there for readers to decipher on their own. Can't wait to discuss this book with my Mother Daughter book group.