Plot/Summary:
Twelve-year-old Emma Graham lives with her mother and brother in the family's old summer hotel, where her mother cooks for the guests and Emma helps out in the dining room. Other residents of the hotel include old Aunt Aurora Paradise, who refuses to leave the top floor of the hotel, Mrs. Davidow, the manager, and her spoiled daughter Regina. When Emma learns about the twelve-year- old girl who drowned in nearby Spirit Lake over 40 years earlier, she is driven to uncover information about the girl and the circumstances of her drowning.  

Comments:
Colorful characters abound in this funny, suspenseful mystery set in an isolated resort area. The spirited young detective is a cousin to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in her curiosity and assessment of the adults in her world. The leisurely pace of the novel reflects a child's experience of time and gives it an old-fashioned feel. Hotel Paradise is the first book in the Emma Graham mystery series.

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Reviewed by ds, 06/11. Other reviews by ds. Have you read this book? Tell us what you think!