This was absolutely amazing! I was totally enthralled with this story from beginning to end, I could barely put it down, and when I finally read the last page, the house was dark, I was hungry, thirsty, needed to pee and my neck was stiff. But damn, it was worth it!

Thanks to Joffe Books and NetGalley for ARC.

Rina Martin is very definitely a retired actress, enjoying village life running a 'guesthouse' full of chosen family, solving the odd mystery. When she's asked to reboot her most famous role, as a TV sleuth, she decides to give fame and fortune another whirl. As part of the launch, she and friends are invited to a murder mystery weekend.

You don't need to be a retired actress/amateur sleuth to know there is going to be a real tragedy and lots of secrets. I was a wee bit reluctant to sit back and enjoy the fun, but the writing and the sweetness of the character relationships warmed me up and I ended up having genteel fun. Perfect rainy day reading.

If you are looking for a fun, exciting and unpredictable cosy mystery to read in one go, look no further than Jane Adams’ fabulous new crime novel, Murder at the Hotel, featuring retired actress Rina Martin.

Having played a sleuth on TV for years, Rina usually steers clear of murder mystery weekends. Throughout the course of her career, she has seen her fair share of hammy acting, overwrought emotion and lazy scripts. However, when she’s invited to an exclusive event at the grand Palisades Hotel, Rina finds herself unable to say no. What’s the worse that can happen? Quite a lot, as she soon discovers…

As soon as the guests check in, they all head to the library ready for the fun and games to begin. Only what they find is more shocking than either one of them could imagine. The actor William Toons was meant to play the dastardly Lord Thursby, who should have already met his fate. But what the guests find is William covered in blood with a dead body at his feet. William swears he didn’t do it, even if the evidence is pointing squarely in his direction!

Everyone might be convinced that William Toons is a murderer, but Rina Martin is not convinced. Will she manage to find out who the real killer is? Or will this dangerous murderer strike again before curtain call?

Jane Adams’ Rina Martin mysteries are an absolute delight and Murder at the Hotel is a witty, enjoyable and compulsively readable page-turner that kept me engrossed and guessing until the final unpredictable twist. With Rina Martin at the top of her game, Murder at the Hotel is a terrific crime novel from Jane Adams that has me wondering why this fantastic series of cosy mysteries hasn’t been adapted for TV yet!

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

I tried to get into this but ultimately, it wasn't for me. It moved very slowly and felt like there was a lot of describing of how people and things are and their background or how they were connected to each other but not much actually happening in the here and now. I never felt that invested in any of the characters and ultimately just didn't enjoy it.

This time Rina gets involved with a real murder while she is attending a murder mystery week-end with her various 'house mates'. Cosy mystery, good descriptions. Did not like the fact that we were told, in effect, who the murderer was at the start. Not as good as previous books in the series for me; a light read but not especially memorable I'm afraid. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

Although this is book 10 in the series it does work perfectly as stand alone.

Rina was an actress and investigating sleuth.  Now she is retired and seems to be doing it for real.  She is invited to a Murder Mystery weekend but it soon becomes clear this is no fictional story when a body is discovered.  It appears the murdererer is still at the scene but all is not as it seems and Rina needs to put her skills to their best use to discover what is going on.

This is a great cosy mystery.  Possibly a bit too much descriptive text for me but it certainly has enough intrigue to keep the pages turning.

A very interesting read with unusual, well defined characters.

The Library!
The tenth outing in the Rina Martin mystery series and a murder in the library awaits. A murder mystery weekend does not particularly appeal to Rina but this one does interest her. It is an invitation that she is unable to refuse. When the games begin, there is a corpse in the library that turns out to be all too real. Let the investigating commence! Another most enjoyable and entertaining instalment to this series with a likeable protagonist, a well crafted supporting cast of eclectic characters and a well imagined setting.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book.

Oh wow!!! I did not see that plot twist coming!!! This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last! Such a good story!

First of all, I did not realize that this was the tenth and, possibly?, final book in a long-standing murder mystery series. I only saw the title "Murder at the Hotel" on NetGalley and was intrigued by the description. A retired television actress attends a murder mystery weekend at a hotel and a body is found in the library. Sign me up! First the pros: I really enjoyed the characters, particularly those surrounding Rina, who is the main character. She has built up quite the sweet found family in her little corner of England and I was very interested in all of the side characters. And I am certain that for long time readers of the series, it was very satisfying to get to see little check-ins with this very large cast of characters who are all a great help to Rina. Even though I am new to the series, I did not find it too difficult to follow this cast of characters, even though there are quite a lot of them. Rina is a fun character, but I do think I liked Mac and some of the others more.

While I did finish the story and was interested in seeing how everything would wrap up, there were a couple of tropes (that I have read before) that I am not really a fan of, and did not know they would be part of this story. My two largest issues are sort of spoilers so warnings for the context of the rest of this review, but my first issue happens in the prologue, so I am hard pressed to really believe that this is a spoiler. The reader knows who commits the murder the entire book, from the start of the prologue. That is not something we the reader are trying to figure out. This brings me to my second issue, one of my least favorite plot points in general is blackmail. I tend to not find it that interesting or compelling, mostly because I want to read about sympathetic characters. I want to read about people, for the most part, that I would want to spend time with. Typically (although not always) if a character can be blackmailed, then they probably did something pretty bad. The majority of this plot is figuring out who is being blackmailed, who is doing the blackmailing, why, etc. I don't like this angle and this is not what I hope for in a cozy mystery.

Finally, the ending is incredibly abrupt. It's like the author ran out of interest in the characters, in the plot, and just wanted everything to be over. Everything was resolved, which I do appreciate, but I was so surprised when the end of the book just seemed to pop up. I assumed there'd be another chapter or so settling everything, but nope. It just ends. Otherwise I do think this was well-written and the fact that I cared about side characters that have clearly been introduced over 9 books was very well-done. I felt compelled to finish, to see how everything would wrap up, but I don't think I would search out the first book in the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for a free copy of this eARC in return for an honest review.

This series is very entertaining and I'm always glad to catch with Rina, her friends, and investigate with them.
This is the 10th instalment and it's better to read the books in series even if it can be appreciated with a stand-alone.
A murder weekend that turn into a week end with a real murder, a lot of twists and surprises.
It's the perfect Christmas in July read, a good and solid mystery, an entertaining novel.
I can't wait to read the next one as I had fun.
Recommended.
Many thanks to Joffe Books and Books 'n' Promotions for this digital copy, all opinions are mine

I received a free copy of, Murder at the Hotel, by Jane Adams, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is book ten of ten in The Rina Martin Murder Mystery series. Rina was once an actress who solved crimes, now she has to do it in real life, without the help of writers. Rina is invited to a murder mystery weekend, where of course a real murder occurs. Im not sure if I want to go to a murder mystery weekend, especially after reading this book, even though it was a nice read.

Rena Martin Murder Mysteries #10

Meet Rena Martin, a retired actress with a taste for tea, gardening, and crime-solving. She played a TV sleuth for years, but now she has to do it for real. A grand hotel on a lonely cliffside. A murder mystery event like no other. A killer who's playing a game of their own. Ham acting, lazy script-writing, and dastardly suspects - Rena's not one for murder mystery weekends. But, when she's invited for twenties-themed hi jinks up at the luxury Palisades Hotel, she can hardly say no. A handful of guests gather for the exclusive event. They race to the library, where they're in for a shock. William Toons, playing the wicked Lord Thursby, should already have met his fate. Except. William is very much alive and covered in blood that's anything but fake. All eyes are on the real-life corpse at his feet.

This is a well-written, cosy murder mystery. The main character, Rena Martin, reminds me a little of Miss Marple. Rena had been invited along to a murder mystery weekend, but they weren't expecting to find a real dead body covered in blood. This twisted, quick read had me intrigued. The characters are well-developed and likeable. Although this book is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.

Published 25th August 2024

I would like to thank #NetGalley #JoffeBooks and the author #JaneAdams for my ARC of #MurderAtTheHotel in exchange for an honest review.

snow-season, extortion, retired-actor, amateur-sleuth, murders, investigations, local-law-enforcement, suspense, friendship, rage, England, dual-perspectives*****

The body was in the library but the murder scene was a mystery in itself.
Rina Martin plays a sleuth and has the nosiness to make her useful to DI MacGregor. That's especially true in this case where there is an acting troupe of people she knows working at this murder mystery weekend. We hear how the investigation goes from her point of view and also how things spiral out of control from the point of view of the murderer who is also one of the blackmail victims. There are some truly astonishing plot twists as well as the kinds of misdirections that made me groan. Another winner in this series.
I requested and received a free temporary uncorrected proof e-copy from Joffe Books via NetGalley.

The writing style is a bit clunky. There's no need to worry about picking up this series out of order, because there's an avalanche of exposition. Don't worry about cliff hangers or loose ends, because every last little detail is exhaustively explained. Theres not much of a mystery anyway because you're told exactly what's happening the entire time. The only time I was ever in danger of not knowing what was going on was when I was trying to keep straight the 50 some odd characters.

Rina Martin, a retired actress with a taste for tea, gardening and crime solving is attending a murder mystery weekend. A body is found and William Toons, the actor who was playing the victim is caught standing over the body
The tenth outing for Rina & friends & it’s easily read on its own. A well written cosy mystery with strong characters & whilst most of the book flowed well I thought it lagged in a couple of places. There are twists & turns & I came no where near working out the reasons for the murder. Not my favourite of the series but still a thoroughly enjoyable read & I still look forward to more in the series
I voluntarily read and reviewed a special copy of this book; all thoughts and opinions are my own

Just when you think you know what's going to happen you don't. This book kept my mind wondering what was going to happen next and crazy flipping through the pages.

It is kind of cozy and easy to read. I picked this book because the synopsis seemed classic cozy vibes. It was that and a great mix of suspense, intrigue, action, and a great who done it!

I have read other books in this series although not all. It was nice to spend time with Rina and her somewhat eccentric friends/family. However this one wasn't as good for me as the others have been. I think it's because the book starts off with the murder so we know who did it which I dislike. The biggest mystery is really how it came to be where it was found. I just wasn't as enthralled this time it felt a little flat and not a great deal of investigating seemed to be being done. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'll admit I picked this book up because the synopsis gave me classic Agatha Christie vibes, especially with the small town and murder mystery aspects.
It started out fine to me, but then I realised I was not invested in the story or engaged with the characters motivations or storylines.
It is kind of cozy and easy to read, but somehow it failed to hold my attention.
I'm pretty sure other readers will enjoy this book.