Ivy Nichols, first introduced in Audrey Keown’s Murder at Hotel 1911, returns in the latest mystery set at the period-themed hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Dust to Dust finds another hotel guest murdered, another employee accused, and Ivy looking for answers to her own family mysteries as well as proof that her friend did not kill anyone.
Ivy has kept it a secret from her father that she’s working the front desk, dressed in period costume, at Hotel 1911. While he doesn’t want to talk about the hotel that was once the private home of the Morrow family, she’s searching for family connections. Because her mother left when she was seven and suffered from hereditary mental illness, Ivy suspects her own panic attacks and anxiety disorders are family problems. And, she wants to uncover stories of her grandparents and ancestors, the Morrows.
When the Association of Gravestone Studies meets in town, and the members of one club, the Gravestone Friends of Greater Pittsburgh, stay at the hotel, Ivy sees her chance to learn more about the Morrows. Mr. Fig, the hotel’s general manager, lets her in on a secret. The statues in the garden are memorials to many of the family members. He’s to give the club a tour, but ends up dealing with plumbing problems instead. To Ivy’s horror and shame, her father is the plumber who shows up to take care of the problem. She hadn’t yet told him where she was working, but he sees her there now.
It’s too bad Ivy’s father wasn’t there to provide an alibi for Mr. Fig. When one of the members is found strangled, instead of looking at the husband and other club members who knew the victim, they arrest Mr. Fig, saying he’s the only one who had opportunity. Ivy is desperate to prove that he’s innocent. He’s one of her few friends, and, since he was once employed by the Morrows, he remembers them and shares stories and secrets with Ivy.
Despite her anxiety, Ivy is willing to endanger herself for a friend. It isn’t long before she suspects the killer knows she’s investigating. That’s not going to stop her looking for hidden passages and ways to reach the guest rooms. She knows Hotel 1911 has secrets to reveal, secrets that could point to a killer.
Dust to Dust is a slow-paced, character-driven story, told from Ivy’s point of view. Whatever is true for Ivy is true for the reader – until it’s not.
Secrets. Dust to Dust is about the secrets that swirl around Hotel 1911 and the Morrow family. Although the murder is Ivy’s primary reason for getting involved, she discovers her family isn’t the only one with secrets. Keown’s latest mystery shows the importance of talking with the people closest to you, whether you’re a descendant of the Morrow family, or a family from Pittsburgh. Secrets have a way of reaching into the past and the future.
Audrey Keown’s website is http://www.audreykeown.com
Dust to Dust by Audrey Keown. Crooked Lane Books, 2021. ISBN 9781643857343 (hardcover), 288p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a .PDF to review the book for a journal.
