NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Murder at the Dolphin Hotel (Miss Underhay #1) by Helena Dixon

A lovely, historical cozy mystery set in Dartmouth, 1933.

It's summer and the start of the tourist season in riverside Dartmouth at the Dolphin Hotel. The fashionable place is owned and managed by Mrs. Treadwell and her granddaughter, Miss Kitty Underhay. As the story opens, a dead body has been fetched out of the river -- the man was a Dutch foreigner -- and the police are involved. Murder is not common in Dartmouth and this news has everyone a bit on edge. So, when Mrs. Treadwell has to leave to attend a relative, Kitty learns that Captain Matthew Bryant has been retained to provide security in her grandmother's absence. At the same time, Kitty finds out that Grams has been receiving threatening letters that hint of an item of great value that the sender wants back. Kitty has been in the care of Grams since she was 6 years old when her mother, Elowed, disappeared during the war. Kitty has no memories of her father. It's a mystery that gets more involved after an assault on the former mayoress and a couple more murders. Everything is complicated by a nosy reporter and the scheduled visit by an entertainer from the US. With plenty of intrigue and a surfeit of suspects, can Kitty and Captain Bryant figure out what the treasure is, find it, and make sure it is secured? NO SPOILERS.

As the first in a new series, this installment introduces us to the two main characters. I really enjoyed getting to know Kitty and Matthew and am eager to see what new adventures and mysteries await. I absolutely loved the time period and the setting and couldn't get enough of the period details of a time long gone. The narrative is well-written and the words flew by as I devoured this in a couple of hours. Lots of action and fun trying to guess which were the bad guys.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend. I definitely want to read the next book in this series.

This is the first in a new series so, of course, I want to read these in order.
Genre - cozy mystery, historical 1933, Dartmouth

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