Rating: 
Summary: Wonder
Review: This is an wonderful book but the mystery is -confusing- and never ends. However, it's an wonderful story of trouble making, Emma, who make drinks to get infomation from the old lady, and she steals it from the snotty waitress' stash!
Hilorous!
Rating: 
Summary: crummy
Review: to much like the last book
Rating: 
Summary: A hard to beat reading experience
Review: Twelve-year old Emma Graham recognizes that her small Maryland hometown is a boring COLD FLAT JUNCTION that travelers pass through with a thank you prayer that they do not live there. Besides toiling at the family hotel and attending school, Emma gains her only pleasure from investigating mysteries (see HOTEL PARADISE) especially since she is convinced that the kind sheriff can never correctly solve them. Just after Ben Queen is released from prison after two decades of time for the murder of his wife Rose, he quickly falls under suspicion of killing their daughter. Emma knows Ben did not commit the current homicide and begins to believe he did not do the other either. She starts her own inquiries going back to the original event that occurred over forty years ago that she feels triggered the subsequent homicides. The second Emma Graham amateur sleuth investigation is a charming tale that cleverly uses a who-done-it to provide a coming of age novel. The story line is fun, amusing, and entertaining as readers observe Emma playing her trade in an innocent air while doing her hotel chores. Detective purists may not enjoy Emma's introspective asides, but those who want a wider plot will find her internal comments quite enlightening. Martha Grimes shows the depth of her talent as she takes a different kind of hero than her Richard Jury books, but turns her into an appealing investigator. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy Within a Fantasy or Just Improbable Writing?
Review: Twelve-year-old Emma Graham is the heroine of this detective novel. Her life is a lot like Cinderella's except that her mother is still alive. In this story, Emma does her usual waitressing and food preparation chores at the Hotel Paradise while solving three deaths. To complicate matters, her mother, business partner and business partner's daughter all go away on a vacation leaving Emma to cook for the resident guests and to pine for Florida. She creates her own fantasy vacation while they are away. To take some of the sting out of being left behind, she pulls little tricks on a grumpy guest and spends more time investigating. After I finished reading the book, I couldn't decide if Ms. Grimes intended the detection to be a fantasy as well (delusions of a deluded person) or just decided to ignore reality as a writer. In either case, the book didn't work for me. Let me explain the problem. Emma's mom is supposed to be short of money. Emma gets her money from tips, but the hotel seems to only have 2 or 3 guests. How much can she earn in tips? Presumably, not very much. Yet, Emma is constantly racing around in taxis, taking trains, having lunch in diners, and buying expensive supplies. She spends much more pocket money daily than I do as a management consultant. As another dimension of this problem, Emma is able to get an attractive young man (who is a poacher) to drive her around and help her check out an old house whenever she wants. Neither Emma nor anyone else is worried about them heading off together in a car. Really? Many of the characters seem to think that Emma isn't all there mentally. Are they right, or just myopic? Emma also comes out succeeding in some pretty over-the-top ways at the end of the story. Fantasy or overly imaginative writing? The mystery itself isn't a particularly intriguing one. If you like the idea of Cinderella as a detective rather than going to the ball, you will probably enjoy this story. If you like your mysteries to have more realism in them, pick one of the Richard Jury novels that Ms. Grimes writes so well instead. Where does personal fantasy begin to undermine the ability to function? How can you guard against this? Take a cold-eyed look around you!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely five stars
Review: What a wonderful book and audio-book! This is an extraordinary coming-of-age novel, with characters that you really care about and a haunting, ambiguous story. Bernadette Dunn is a wonderful narrator for this story as well. I bought a copy of the book after listening to it on tape first, and her voice echoes through my reading.
Emma Graham is a wonderful, rare, twelve year old narrator, perched right on the verge of adulthood. Her imaginative child self and her growing intuition about the interesting adults in her life sometimes work together here and sometimes battle each other in a fascinating mix. This is also a beautifully lyrical novel that takes place in a world that seems quite timeless. We are in a recognizable world but not necessarily a specific time. Definitely worth it! It's a gem!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely five stars
Review: What a wonderful book and audio-book! This is an extraordinary coming-of-age novel, with characters that you really care about and a haunting, ambiguous story. Bernadette Dunn is a wonderful narrator for this story as well. I bought a copy of the book after listening to it on tape first, and her voice echoes through my reading. Emma Graham is a wonderful, rare, twelve year old narrator, perched right on the verge of adulthood. Her imaginative child self and her growing intuition about the interesting adults in her life sometimes work together here and sometimes battle each other in a fascinating mix. This is also a beautifully lyrical novel that takes place in a world that seems quite timeless. We are in a recognizable world but not necessarily a specific time. Definitely worth it! It's a gem!
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