The Socialite's Guide to Death and Dating : Pinnacle Hotel Mystery

The Socialite's Guide to Death and Dating Pinnacle Hotel Mystery

S. K. Golden

eBook - 2023

Perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Ashley Weaver, the second Pinnacle Hotel mystery finds another murder that strikes too close to home, and hotel heiress Evelyn Murphy knows she's the only one who can save the hotel before it's lights out. New York, 1958. Even though Evelyn Murphy has made progress conquering her agoraphobia by leaving the Pinnacle, she still feels most comfortable in her father's hotel. With Malcolm Cooper, her new boyfriend and fellow employee at the hotel, Evelyn feels prepared for whatever happens next. In this case, it's throwing a big fundraiser with the who's who of New York City. The night is a success, and Evelyn finally takes up Malcolm's offer to finally visit his apartment in Yonke...rs. As the party ends, they sneak away to the garage to get Evelyn's car. But Evelyn's always been good at finding things, and she discovers the dead body of a guest, Judge Baker, in a car-with a needle in his arm. Detective Hodgson and his new partner, Detective McJimsey, arrive on the scene, but before they can begin to question Evelyn, they are startled by another mysterious discovery: there's a woman in the trunk of the car, and she screams as soon as she sees Evelyn's face. Tangled up in the police investigation, Evelyn's got another problem, too-her father insists she break off her relationship with Mac. The next day, her father is found attacked just like the judge, only this time the detectives find a dead woman nearby. With Mac accused of the attacks and in police custody, Evelyn will have to find the killer on her own before she's checked out of the hotel-this time, for good.

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Subjects
Murder > Investigation > Fiction.
Fund raising > Fiction.
Agoraphobia > Patients > Fiction.
Hotels > Fiction.
Electronic books.
New York (N.Y.) > Fiction.
Published
[United States] : Crooked Lane Books 2023.
Language
English
Corporate Author
hoopla digital
Main Author
S. K. Golden (author)
Corporate Author
hoopla digital (-)
Online Access
Instantly available on hoopla.
Cover image
Physical Description
1 online resource
Format
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ISBN
9781639104864
Access
AVAILABLE FOR USE ONLY BY IOWA CITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS OF JOHNSON COUNTY, UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, HILLS, AND LONE TREE (IA).
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Definitely the boss' daughter, Evelyn Murphy is enjoying success in her new role as party planner for the Pinnacle Hotel in New York in 1958, working on a fancy-dress fundraiser for the mayor. When she and her boyfriend, Mac, go to the garage to get her Rolls, they find the judge they had been talking with at the gala slumped in a car, a heroin needle in his arm. When the police arrive, they check the trunk, finding a barely alive woman of the night, and take Evelyn and Mac in for questioning. The next morning, Evelyn goes to see her father, only to find him convulsing, a needle in his arm, and a strangled hotel maid in the closet. When Mac is accused of murder and attempted murder, Evelyn goes into action, starting as she best knows how, with a fashion misstep that doesn't ring true. Insecure and agoraphobic since her mother's murder, Evelyn may rely on her Pomeranian, Presley (yes, named for the singer of the day), for strength but faces her fears to get justice.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Golden's frothy and frivolous second cozy centered on New York City's glamorous Pinnacle Hotel (after 2022's The Socialite's Guide to Murder) finds Evelyn Murphy, the daughter of one of the richest men in the world, presiding over a Halloween fund-raiser for the mayor's 1958 reelection campaign. The event is being held at the Pinnacle, which Evelyn's father owns and she rarely leaves, having called it home for most of her life. As the gala winds down, Evelyn and her assistant/lover, Malcolm Cooper, decide to take her Rolls Royce for a spin. In the hotel parking garage, they discover the body of Judge Cliff Baker, who'd attended the party, in his Cadillac, with a syringe sticking out of his arm. Worried that the detectives assigned to the case aren't cut out for the job, Evelyn decides to take matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, the surprise arrival of her frequently absent father creates havoc in her romantic life. Stuffing the narrative with lovely descriptions of Evelyn's outfits and makeup tips cribbed from Marilyn Monroe, Golden achieves a certain effervescence, but the plot--littered with one too many red herrings--is as insubstantial as cotton candy. In the crowded field of historical cozies, this doesn't stand out. Agent: Madelyn Burt, Stonesong. (Oct.)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

The death of a visitor to her latest party before he's even left the Pinnacle Hotel gives New Yorker Evelyn Murphy another excuse to play detective. It's 1958. Having already sent his young and very pregnant second wife, Elena, home separately, Judge Cliff Baker makes it only as far as the parking garage before someone injects him with a lethal dose of heroin. Nor is his body the extent of the discoveries that await Ev and her new lover, Pinnacle bellhop Malcolm Cooper, in the garage. When Det. Laurence Hodgson and his unsympathetic new partner, Det. McJimsey, arrive and pop the judge's trunk, they find an agitated young woman inside. By the time she dies several days later, when she's smothered in her bed at Manhattan General Hospital, Ev's father, Pinnacle owner Mark Murphy, the third (or maybe fourth) richest man in the world, has returned from his latest trip, been shot up with a hefty dose of heroin, and been sent to Manhattan General, where he lies unconscious while someone strangles his visitor, Florence, Ev's longtime maid. When Hodgson gets fired for failing to establish security protocols that might have saved Florence's life, the unlovely McJimsey is left in charge of the case, and Ev visits Hodgson--telling him, "No coffee for me, thanks. Do you have champagne?"--to enlist him as her equally unofficial investigative partner. Though the period details are less thickly strewn than in The Socialite's Guide to Murder (2022), the ending comes as quite a surprise. The heroine's serenely coy sensibility vividly evokes the 1950s. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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