[Review] Summers at the Saint - Mary Kay Andrews

Summary: Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help—including the daughter of her estranged best friend—Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.

Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way. Told with Mary Kay Andrew’s warmth, humor, knack for twists, and eye for delicious detail about human nature, Summers at the Saint is a beach read with depth and heart. (Pub Date: May 07, 2024)

 

Mary Kay Andrews got me again in this pool of cozy suspense and nostalgia as old friendships rekindle amidst a backdrop of financial turmoil.

Traci has married into the powerful family that owns the Saint, a luxurious hotel she's always dreamed of. After her husband's death and the decline in the patriarch's health, she and her brother-in-law have been at odds, and the hotel's financial health hasn't been as stellar. So she recruits her niece Parrish and a number of new employees to live in a newly built dorm and help the hotel stay afloat. In the middle of this, a strange death occurs during a party that raises doubts about the motives associated with those financial troubles.

3.5 rounded up

This book follows the stories of Traci, her estranged best friend from youth, and those five employees who all live together in the dorm and become key witnesses to the death. It's no secret how much I enjoy Mary Kay Andrews's books, but that can create unmet expectations. However, this didn't happen with this book. Some elements of it did seem recycled from her previous stories, more than usual, but it wasn't in a way that made it easier to guess the answer to its mystery, so don't worry.

I was curious about Traci because she has more financial stability than Andrews's usual choice of main character, even with how her business could be in danger, but it didn't make much of a difference. I also thought there were some elements that seemed to be building up and ended up being not much. It wasn't that the answer to that was bad, just that I had expected better. These small cracks in my expectations took away some of the sweetness of the read, but only partially. And of course, it could be something that only I thought should have had more importance, and other readers won't feel the same way.

As for the conclusion, it was good. A lot of it is easy to guess, but the development isn't boring until you get to the "answer key." The romance was weird to me, on the other hand. Luckily, I didn't pick this for the romance, but this could have been a better read without that awkward couple. It's funny to conclude this, because I know Andrews from her romance novels, but this one wasn't to my taste. And I think those are my criticisms. Overall, this was a very enjoyable book, making it one of my favorites by this author. It's always such a good time when summer comes and I get to read another of Mary Kay Andrews's mysteries.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 4 out of 5.