This is the first book of the Miss Underhay series that takes place in early 1930s Devon. Kitty Underhay and her grandmother manage the Dolphin Hotel in Dartmouth. Kitty, who has never known her father, has lived at the hotel since she has been six years old, when her mother suddenly disappeared. Now her grandmother leaves for Scotland to take care of an aunt who has injured herself, but because the hotel has received a series of anonymous letters, she employs Captain Matthew Bryant as a security officer. Of course, the events start to speed up once Kitty is in charge of the hotel all by herself, and the first murder happens.

Although I love hotels as settings and the premise sounded promising to me, I felt this novel to be a slog. The setting is the beautiful Devonshire coast, yet I never got a sense of place. The hotel and its guests did not come to life for me, and I did not get the feeling of really knowing the characters, they remained oddly lifeless. To my mind, the story is constructed and over the top, and I did not enjoy how it developed. The language is overall too modern and casual, to the effect that this did not feel like a story of the 1930s.
The reason I gave it two stars and not one is because I still wanted to know the ending, and towards that ending, and during the final showdown, it improved a little. Moreover, the character of Matt Bryant was a little more fleshed out than the other ones, so I liked some of the chapters featuring him. I will not continue with the series, though. ( )

1933. Seventeen years have passed since Kitty Underhay's mother, Elowed, disappeared. Kitty now co-runs the Dolphin Hotel with her grandmother Mrs Treadwell. But Mrs Treadwell has been receiving threatening letters and has employed a Captain Matthew Bryant to investigate and keep Kitty safe, while she travels to Scotland to look after her inujred sister.
But several murders later Inspector Grenville, Bryant and Kitty are no further solving the cases.
An enjoyable and well-written cozy historical mystery. It also has some very likeable characters and I look forward to reading more about them, seeing how they and their relationships will develop.
Overall a good solid start to a new series.
A NetGalley Book ( )