THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER
For fans of The Maid and The Grand Budapest Hotel comes this thrilling (and sexy) debut inspired by a real love hotel, which legend claims has existed forever, luring lovers inside for a night of debauchery.
In modern Vienna, American ex-pat Sterling Lockwood is the loyal concierge at the infamously secretive Hotel Orient, where cameras are banned, aliases are required, and every guest has something to hide. After the double murder of two guests, including a tech mogul building an Austrian surveillance state, Sterling must turn detective. But finding the truth will require breaking the Orient’s sacred code of secrecy while keeping a few secrets of her own.
The police struggle when modern investigative technology proves useless at the old-fashioned hotel. Because clients use aliases, pay cash, and stay mere hours, all suspects have vanished. Sterling agrees to assist alongside her best friend and colleague, Fernando, if only to avoid arrest and the suspicion regarding her own movements that night. As enemies close in from all around, she risks everything to solve a case haunted by the past, in a city with a fetish for nostalgia.
Don't be shy darling, ring the bell...
I am kind of obsessed
"This was the best kind of surprise, very diff than expected but a refreshing new sort of mystery. It's spicy! Or more so "slutty" as the author says in the dedication (must read!). Honestly this was unlike any crime novel I have ever read before while also including lots of classic crime tropes – but turned on their heads. Had so much fun, love all the big characters especially Sterling and FERNANDO! Learned some new words in Austrian German, there is a glossary in the back jfyi, wish I had realized but I got most of it through context. There's also a map of the hotel floors and graphics throughout which is different for crime fiction. It's not a thriller, there's slow build up but it all pays off later! I never saw the twist coming and usually I can."
