Book Review: Murders in the Marquee by Dana Mentink (Murder Most Fowl Mysteries #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong main characters and a great mystery

Cons: Took a couple of chapters to settle in

The Bottom Line:

Starting hotel job

Finding new friends and mayhem

Delightful debut

Murder, Mayhem, and Mallards

While I haven’t read her romantic suspense, I’ve enjoyed Dana Mentink’s mysteries, so when I saw she was starting a new series, I jumped at the chance to get an ARC of Murders in the Marquee.  I wasn’t disappointed.

This book is set in 1905 San Francisco and takes us to the Grand Mallard Marquee, where Saul has just gotten a job as their “Duck Commandant.”  You see, the hotel is known for its daily duck parade, and Saul has been hired to lead the ducks every afternoon.

There’s just one problem.  As he was arriving for work the first day, he thought he saw something, or someone, falling from one of the rooms.  But there’s no evidence of it when he looks later.  Then Saul learns that the previous commandant vanished suddenly.  As more unusual things happen, Saul has more problems than he can count.  Can he figure out what is happening at his new job?

Saul isn’t the only main character in this book.  He shares being the viewpoint character with Kitty, a young woman who is a guest of the hotel and has dreams of being a detective.  Rounding out the trio is Henry, one of the elevator men.  All three of them come to life over the course of the book, even Henry who doesn’t have any time as the viewpoint character.  Honestly, their budding friendship was just as huge of a draw as the mystery.  I love these characters and I want to see them grow as the series progresses.  I already can’t wait to revisit them.

While the trio are the most developed, the rest of the cast is strong.  I never had a hard time remembering who everyone was, which made it easy to follow the story as it unfolded.

And what a twisted story it was.  It took a couple of chapters for me to really feel at home in this world with these characters, but once I did, I was engaged.  There are lots of different things going on, but I was always able to follow what the trio was thinking as they investigated.  I got a couple of things right, but there were several other things that I wasn’t close to figuring out before the characters solved things.

We don’t leave the grounds of the hotel in this book, but even so, we still find some references to real people and events of 1905, which I enjoyed.  I’m also already curious to see how this series will handle a major, earth shaking and hot, event that is coming in 1906.  But that’s the future, so we don’t need to worry about it now.

Murders in the Marquee was a delight from start to finish.  I’m already making my reservations to visit again when the sequel comes out.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.