{"id":57180,"date":"2025-07-21T06:00:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=57180"},"modified":"2025-05-21T16:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T21:40:13","slug":"mysteries-set-in-hotels-and-motels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/mysteries-set-in-hotels-and-motels\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysteries set in Hotels and Motels"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is your favorite setting for a mystery? One of mine is a hotel or motel. Hotels as settings for mysteries are intriguing because they are never the same. The people who inhabit these spaces change from day to day and could come from any walk of life. Sometimes they are connected to others at the hotel, while sometimes they are all complete strangers. Regardless of circumstances, the people involved are forced to interact be it positive or negative. Add in a mystery and everything changes. Tensions run high, accusations abound, and danger rises.<\/p>\n

Below you will find a list of mysteries set in hotels or motels. This is by no means a complete list! As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Bright and Deadly Things<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Lexie Elliott<\/p>\n

A remote back-to-basics mountaintop retreat in the French Alps turns deadly as an Oxford fellow finds herself in the crosshairs of her late husband\u2019s dangerous secrets.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Chalet des Anglais should be the ideal locale for recently widowed Oxford don Emily to begin cutting through the fog of her grief. With no electricity, running water, or access by car, the rustic chalet nestled at the foot of the snow-topped Alps should afford Emily space to heal. Joining her will be a collection of friends from the university, as well as other fellows, graduates, and undergraduates.<\/em><\/p>\n

Something feels off, though, and heightens Emily\u2019s existing anxiety. Tension among the guests is palpable and as hostilities grow, Emily begins to wonder if the chalet\u2019s dark history has cast a shadow over the retreat. When a student disappears after Emily\u2019s room is ransacked and someone tries to hack into her computer, Emily realizes that she had better separate friend from foe and real from imagined\u2014or the next disappearance may be her own. . .<\/em> – Berkley<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Dominoes, Danzon, and Death<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Raquel Reyes (book 4 in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series)<\/p>\n

Latina sleuth and culinary master Miriam Qui\u00f1ones-Smith is cooking up a storm in the fourth installment of the Caribbean Kitchen mystery series.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been three years since food anthropologist and cooking show star Miriam Qui\u00f1ones-Smith had her last brush with death. Her Spanglish culinary show, Abuela Approved, is topping the charts. Her parents are back in Miami and living with her in Coral Shores. And her kids are great. But when bones start popping up in unexpected places, Miriam\u2019s idyllic life is threatened.<\/em><\/p>\n

Her husband Robert\u2019s much-delayed hotel project screeches to a halt when human bones are unearthed. Tribal representatives, forensic archaeologists, and a pompous professor rain down on the possibly ancient site. Then a fake skeleton with the name \u201cSmith\u201d etched into it is found floating in the bay with an ominous note. Is it a threat to Miriam\u2019s husband or her inlaws? And when Miriam\u2019s boss Delvis is seen going off on a tour guide who marched through the crew-only area on set and is later found dead, Delvis is declared the main suspect.<\/em><\/p>\n

To protect her family and friends, Miriam must dig up the truth that has been hiding in plain sight.<\/em> – Crooked Lane Books<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Haunting of Room 904<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Erika T. Wurth<\/p>\n

Olivia Becente was never supposed to have the gift. The ability to commune with the dead was the specialty of her sister, Naiche. But when Naiche dies unexpectedly and under strange circumstances, somehow Olivia suddenly can\u2019t stop seeing and hearing from spirits.<\/em><\/p>\n

A few years later, she\u2019s the most in-demand paranormal investigator in Denver. She\u2019s good at her job, but the loss of Naiche haunts her. That\u2019s when she hears from the Brown Palace, a landmark Denver hotel. The owner can\u2019t explain it, but every few years, a girl is found dead in room 904, no matter what room she checked into the night before. As Olivia tries to understand these disturbing deaths, the past and the present collide as Olivia\u2019s investigation forces her to confront a mysterious and possibly dangerous cult, a vindictive journalist, betrayal by her friends, and shocking revelations about her sister\u2019s secret life.<\/em> – Flatiron Books<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Plus One<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by S.C. Lalli<\/p>\n

The wedding of Radhika Singh and Raj Joshi, a weeklong affair at a luxury resort in Cabo, isn\u2019t just going to be the event of the season\u2014it will also mark the union of two highly influential and wealthy Indian-American families. No expense will be spared for what Radhika and Raj have coined \u201cR&R,\u201d a week of rest, relaxation, and celebrating their love.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shaylee \u201cShay\u201d Kapoor is just an outsider, but she just so happens to be dating Raj\u2019s best friend, Caleb Prescott III, and is sucked into this world of wealth and excess. But on the morning the wedding festivities are supposed to begin, the resort\u2019s wedding coordinator Daniela makes a frightening discovery: Raj and Radhika are dead, gunshots to the head.<\/em><\/p>\n

Chaos descends on the hotel as the guests are turned away or sent home. Shay stays by Caleb\u2019s side as the investigation starts to unfold, family and close friends grieve, and accusations run wild. The police believe the murders are a drug cartel hit.<\/em><\/p>\n

But even if it was a cartel hit, even if the murderer somehow got past the resort\u2019s security, the hotel room doors have state-of-the-art locks. There was no way for the murderer to slip into the room without a key. And only the sister of the bride, Zara; the best men, Caleb and Sean; and the wedding coordinator, Daniela, have keys.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shay may be an outsider\u2014and she definitely has secrets of her own\u2014but she may be the only person with enough perspective to untangle everyone\u2019s lies, and discover why anyone would want the bride and groom dead. . .<\/em> – William Morrow Paperbacks<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Scot Free<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Catriona McPherson (book 1 in the Last Ditch Mystery series)<\/p>\n

Lexy Campbell fights to prove the innocence of a client she\u2019s been providing marriage guidance to after she is accused of murdering her husband.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Fourth of July in California and Lexy Campbell is headed home to Scotland. But first she must deliver her final dose of marriage guidance to the elderly Bombarros. They don\u2019t turn up for the session, but the cops do. Turns out Mr Bombarro is in the morgue and Mrs Bombarro is in the jail, arrested for murder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Certain of the old lady\u2019s innocence, Lexy decides to stay and clear her name. But after her own recent whirlwind divorce, she\u2019s got no money and no place to stay. So she checks into the Last Ditch Motel.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the plucky little band of motel guests start to take over Lexy\u2019s life, and the shady Bombarro relations come to town, one thing is for sure . . . the fireworks have only just begun.<\/em>– Severn House<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Vacation<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by John Marrs<\/p>\n

How far would you run to escape your past?<\/em><\/p>\n

Venice Beach, Los Angeles. A paradise on earth. Tourists flock to the golden coast and the promise of Hollywood. But for eight strangers at a beach-front hostel, there is far more on their minds than an extended vacation. All of them are running from something. And they all have secrets they\u2019d kill to keep\u2026<\/em> – Hanover Square Press<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>A Very Woodsy Murder<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Ellen Byron (book 1 in Golden Motel Mystery series)<\/p>\n

New motel owner Dee Stern has checked out of the familiar comforts in Studio City and checked in to the quaint village of Foundgold. Running a rustic getaway in the woods sure beats LA traffic\u2014until murder ruins the peace and quiet . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

Down-on-her-luck sitcom writer Dee Stern is flipping the script. Twice divorced and wasting her talents on an obnoxious kids\u2019 show, the lifelong Angeleno embraces the urge to jump in her car and keep driving. It\u2019s a road trip with no destination\u2014until she pulls into a mid-century motel filled with cobwebs and retro charm. Nestled in the shadow of a national park, it\u2019s a time capsule of a place that, like her, could use some work. So, in the most impulsive move of her life, Dee teams up with best friend, Jeff Cornetta\u2014who happens to be her first ex-husband\u2014to transform the aging ranch into the Golden Motel-of-the-Mountains, a hiker\u2019s oasis on the edge of the wilderness . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

But Dee and Jeff soon realize there couldn\u2019t be two people more unprepared for the hospitality business. There\u2019s also the panic-inducing reality of prowling bears and a general store as the only shopping spot for miles. Living and working in the middle of nowhere takes some getting used to\u2014especially when a disrespectful guest ends up murdered! Now, with the motel duo topping the suspect list, Dee must steer clear of a meddling park ranger, face her past in show biz, and determine if the killer is a local or tourist. Because as she quickly finds out, there are many things worse than a one-star review.<\/em> – Kensington Cozies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is your favorite setting for a mystery? One of mine is a hotel or motel. Hotels as settings for mysteries are intriguing because they are never the same. The people who inhabit these spaces change from day to day and could come from any walk of life. Sometimes they[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,5,1,8],"tags":[10315,10317,10314,10309,10316,10311,4750,10320,10318,10307,96,10308,10312,10313,1641,10310,7296,10319],"class_list":["post-57180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-read-a-likes","category-reference","category-staff-picks","tag-a-very-woodsy-murder","tag-bright-and-deadly-things","tag-catriona-mcpherson","tag-dominoes-danzon-and-death","tag-ellen-byron","tag-erika-t-wurth","tag-hotel","tag-john-marrs","tag-lexie-elliott","tag-motel","tag-mysteries","tag-raquel-reyes","tag-sc-lalli","tag-scot-free","tag-series","tag-the-haunting-of-room-904","tag-the-plus-one","tag-the-vacation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-eSg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57180"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57196,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57180\/revisions\/57196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}