Hotel on Shadow Lake

Author: Daniela Tully

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Release Date: April 10, 2018

Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

Intriguing past/present mystery mash up with a forbidden romance.

Maya Weisberg grew up in Germany and shared an intimate bond with her grandmother. When she took a trip over to the United States for a year, her grandmother disappeared a month into her trip, but her father never told her because she knew she would come back.  Feeling betrayed, she left Germany upon her return and never came back, until they found her grandmother’s remains.  To make matters more interesting, her remains were found about 70 miles north of where Maya was staying in New York when she disappeared.  Filled with remorse, Maya decides to make the trip back to New York to the Montgomery Resort close to where she was found.  While there, she discovers that her grandmother was murdered.  The Montgomery family that runs the resort is full of secrets and any one of them could be tied to her grandmother’s death.

I always enjoy a good past/present mashup that involves World War II Germany and this was no exception.  Throughout this book the characters are mysterious, treacherous, deceitful, and downright nasty.  But in the end it makes for a very intriguing mystery.  The whole Montgomery family itself could be its own book.  I enjoyed getting the read the backstory into the family history almost as much as the story itself.  It was easy to see that the author has had experience in the film industry as it almost played out like its own movie.  Add that it is a book clean of language or graphic sex and several readers will find it very enjoyable.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.