Sunday, August 4, 2013

MURDER'S LAST RESORT by Marta Chausse

Publisher: Oak Tree Press
Date published: February 2013
ISBN: 9781610090490
Mystery
E-book
Reviewed by Helen


Obtained via publisher


Maya French’s husband, usually called French, is the manager of the exclusive Sapphire Silver Pines Orlando Resort, in a prime position near Disney World. It’s a delightful life of gourmet dinners, endless parties, and being nice to tourists, until a very senior person turns up dead. Even though dozens of people had motives it’s Maya’s husband who’s arrested. Maya decides to help find the real murderer and that’s when things start going wrong in a major way.

Told in first person by Maya, we gradually learn all about a huge cast of characters, and life, not just at the resort, but also in the wider community. Many of the characters are very engaging, multilayered and interconnected.

The plot itself is quite clever, even though readers will, at times, be screaming, “No! No!”. However, what happens is believable within the parameters of the story and the characters. The pacing was reasonable with a fair balance of fact, information and action. It wasn’t edge of the seat stuff, but enough to keep me reading, although perhaps a fraction predictable here and there.

The ending is a very nice hook into the next book.

All up it’s a pleasant read, with characters the reader can care about, enough excitement to keep the reader turning the pages, and a good balance of enough description to really see the beach and the rooms of the resort, without getting bogged down and killing the pace of the murder investigation.


This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.


 

2 comments:

marta chausée said...

Thank you for this thoughtful and positive review, Helen. it is now posted on my FB page for all the world, or at least a little over 2000 people, to see. ;)

Marta Chausée
Murder's Last Resort

Helen Woodall: Freelance Editing said...

My pleasure, Marta. Congratulations on an enjoyable book.
Helen