Review by Booklist Review
Grimes, best known for her 18 police procedurals starring Richard Jury, launched a new series a few years ago in which a preteen girl in Spirit Lake, an American small town, serves as an unlikely sleuth. There is nothing unsettling about a preteen detective--witness a spate of juvenile and young-adult mysteries (even Harry Potter can be considered a detective at times). What is unsettling and clunky about this new series (previous books are Hotel Paradise, 0 1996, and Cold Flat Junction,0 2000) 0 is the distressingly uneven voice of the narrator, 12-year-old Emma Graham, who helps out at her mother's falling-apart resort hotel. Emma narrates her own adventures mostly in the voice of a very educated woman, except that every and now then, Grimes, seemingly remembering that her heroine is a kid, has Emma explain how she came to know a particular quote or happened to have such a grown-up insight. At the other moments, Grimes just yanks poor Emma back to a version of kidspeak. The latest adventure centers on a burned-down hotel, Belle Rouen, which, of course, holds a buried past that only Emma can unearth. While the debut novel, Hotel Paradise,0 held promise as a character-driven literary thriller, the last two have been disappointing. Grimes fans will still want to read this one, but it's definitely a misstep. --Connie Fletcher Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Grimes, well known for her extensive Richard Jury mystery series, has struck gold with precocious 12-year-old Emma Graham, who was featured in two of Grimes? previous novels. Basking in the glow of new-found fame after narrowly escaping a murder attempt, Emma has her hands full reporting for the local newspaper, waitressing in her mom?s seedy hotel restaurant and performing in her brother?s low-budget production of ?Medea: The Musical.? She also creates havoc for the hotel?s guests, hobnobs with the local sheriff and trades barbs with her archenemy, Ree-Jane Davidow. Nonetheless, Emma?s never ending quest to discover the identity of a mysterious girl only she can see, as well as her passion for solving the 20-year-old mystery surrounding a baby kidnapped from the once famous Belle Rouen hotel are always her top priorities. Grimes? pungent prose and catchy dialog breathe life into her charming young narrator and the novels? idiosyncratic cast of characters. While the fact that Grimes picks up threads from two previous books may disorient newcomers, Emma?s endearing ways and sparkling observations??It isn?t frogs you get in your throat, it?s memories??will leave readers eager for the next installment. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Review by Library Journal Review
Grimes's unlikely detective, 12-year-old Emma Graham, is as imaginative and precocious as ever and still trying to solve decades-old mysteries. Her new investigation centers around the burned-out wreck of a once glamorous hotel, the Belle Rouen, called the Belle Ruin by locals. Twenty years ago the hotel was the scene of an unsolved kidnapping as Baby Fay Slade was stolen from her parents' room during one of the hotel's famous dances. The police inquiry was superficial, no ransom note was ever sent, the baby was never recovered, and the entire incident was hushed up. Emma, touched and horrified by the story, starts interviewing the citizenry to ferret out answers. The plot becomes more fascinating as it grows more convoluted, and the tale ends, much like real life, with most of the questions still unanswered. Reader Kim Mai Guest manages a plethora of Southern accents, each of which allows this collection of colorful characters a specific identity. Listeners who come to this third book of Emma's adventures will definitely have problems if they are not familiar with its predecessors, Cold Flat Junction and Hotel Paradise. A good purchase for libraries that own the other titles in the series, or where the author's works are popular.-Barbara Rhodes, Northeast Texas Lib. Syst., Garland (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
