Single Mother

 

Melanie “Mel”  Douglas has experienced a hard-knock life.  Abandoned as a baby and the product of children’s homes and foster families, she’s never known stability or ease.  Now a struggling single mom to 12-year-old Kate, she’s on her own after years in an abusive marriage to Billy, who’s serving time for it.  Her life only gets worse when one day she’s falsely accused of stealing from her workplace and let go. When her good friend, and fellow product of the foster system, Michael, encourages her to read a formal looking letter from a law office that he’d found in her trash - one she’d dismissed as a scam -  she discovers that she’s been bequeathed a hotel and a large sum of money from an anonymous benefactor.  According to terms of the will, everything is hers to keep, as long as she remodels and continues to operate the hotel and bar - and she allows one unnamed individual to maintain residence there.  Eager to get away from Billy, who she suspects is out of prison, and not having any other real options, Mel and Kate start their new life in the charming seaside town of Halebury.

I’ll start with the positives.  It’s an intriguing mystery, since it’s unknown who left this hotel and money to Mel and why - especially since she has no known family.  Is this a good idea for Mel to agree to this inheritance?  Is it too good to be true? That remains to be seen.  I like her.  She’s a survivor and I like her attitude.  She’s also a great unreliable narrator.  As for the other characters,  they’re all interesting.  There’s Nikki, the barmaid, Rose, the cook, and Tom, the hunky handyman, who’ve been taking care of the hotel.  All of them seem pretty nice, but are clearly keeping secrets about the history of this place and have their suspicious moments.  Can they be trusted?

As an aside here:  WHAT for the love of everything is the fascination so many authors have with the hunky handyman trope??!  Is there no other way to introduce an attractive man into a story involving a single female protagonist?  🙄 OK.  Rant over. Back to the review ...

There’s also the mysterious, mildly creepy, completely silent resident in Room 12, the two Brays: Don and Nige, who send off major ominous vibes, and kind but suspicious hotel patron, Angus, to complete the messy stew of potential suspects when an alarming discovery is made and young Kate goes missing.  Hayes does a good job of casting a suspicious light on virtually everyone, so you’re never sure who to believe.  She also keeps the threat of Mel’s ex, Billy, present … is he out of prison?  Has he been contacting their daughter behind her back?  Is he going to make Mel pay for putting him in prison?

Now the “could be better” part.  The story is largely predictable and the twists just aren’t very twisty.  I could tell almost immediately who was up to no good and it was simply a matter of finding out the how and why.  I didn’t mind it so much - it was still rewarding enough to find that part out, but it wasn’t particularly surprising.  The big reveals just kind of happened without much build-up, so the excitement factor could have been higher.  There are also aspects of the story that are just outright unbelievable, so you just have to go with it and move on.  

Did it blow my socks off?  No.  Did I have fun reading it?  Yes.  It’s an engaging mother-daughter mystery and I really enjoyed seeing how Mel and Kate’s story played out.

WARNING: There are themes involving domestic violence, children and abuse that could be upsetting to some.

★★★ ½  (rounded up to 4)

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bookouture for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.  This is set for publication on January 5, 2021.