Alessandra Ranelli’s debut novel, Murder at the Hotel Orient, delivers sex, humor, mystery, and intrigue all bottled up like top-shelf champagne about to pop. The flirty fever dream opens the night that two guests are murdered at the Hotel Orient, one of Vienna’s most mystifying attractions.
Sterling Lockwood is the alluring and ever-loyal concierge at the Hotel Orient, where technology is banned, and guests must stay under an alias, making it home to some of Vienna’s most illicit affairs. For Sterling, nothing is more important than her role as concierge and “Keeper of Secrets,” but when two bodies are found at the hotel, all of the guests and their nasty little secrets risk being dragged into the light of day. Sterling must choose between her loyalty to the hotel, its guests, and their secrets, and her desire to know the truth of what happened, especially as one victim turns out to be an ex, whom Sterling was still particularly fond of.
Sterling is a very lovable leading lady. Everyone can’t help but fall for her, and lucky for them, she’s not too picky when it comes to who she graces with the pleasure of her company. Behind all her witty flirtations are her undying loyalty and her sharp, observing eye that make Sterling determined to crack the case. That’s why in the end, she agrees to help Detectives Beate and the irresistible Andreas to decipher the aliases of the guests and find the suspects.
Sterling’s mind is its own sort of hotel, constantly taking in information and storing it away under lock and key. She’s constantly putting the pieces together as she creates a suspect list straight out of Clue. It’s this skill that makes her a natural detective and why both Andreas and Beate can’t resist letting her in on the search.
Vienna’s dark and romantic city streets provide the perfect setting for this mystery to unravel. Though Ranelli made it clear this story is entirely fictional, her writing is clearly a love letter to the intriguing, mysterious old glamour of Vienna. Ranelli worked as a writer in residence at the real-life Hotel Orient, and her love for the place shines through in the attention to detail she put in describing each tantalizing facet of the hotel’s rooms.
One of my favorite elements of the story is how Ranelli gives the old hotel a mind of its own. It becomes a character vital to the plot. With a crumudgeony charm, its walls creak and groan under pressure, protesting the use of any modern amenity within its walls. The secrets needed to crack the case won’t reveal themselves until the hotel deems it necessary. And just like everyone who comes and goes from the Orient, the hotel itself is filled with its own hidden past.
I’ll admit, I was never the biggest fan of murder mysteries. I’m not a fan of the creepy, gory elements that often characterize murder mysteries, and the last thing I need is an excuse for more intrusive thoughts about someone murdering me, but with Ranelli’s witty, playful, and flirtatious writing style, I fell head over heels for this charming mystery. I love it when a book helps me to step out of my comfort genre and rediscover my love of reading through a new lens, and that’s exactly what it felt like for me to read Murder at the Hotel Orient.
Ranelli’s novel, Murder at the Hotel Orient, will be released on May 19, and it is currently available for pre-order. Even with the help of a big-five publisher, so many debut novels get buried in the bookshelves behind titles that have been deemed “trendy” new releases by social media. Whether you’re a seasoned lover of mystery or new to the genre, like I was, Murder at the Hotel Orient will not disappoint.
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Image taken from Amazon.
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