‘Murder at the Hotel’ by Jane Adams.

Published by Joffe Books,
19 July 2026. 
IBSN:  978-1-83526-732-5 (PB)

Rina Martin has a taste for tea, gardening, and, occasionally, crime solving, though not of the murder-mystery weekend variety.  However, she has been asked to take part in a twenties-themed event at the Art Deco Palisades Hotel, which is close to home and luxurious to boot, and she doesn’t feel that she can refuse.  The programme ‘Lydia Marchant Investigates’, in which she stars, has returned to television and the feature-length Christmas special has sealed its success.  However, Rina is there not as a member of the cast, but as one of the crime-solving audience, and the action has reached what one of her sleuthing colleagues refers to as ‘the body scene’ – the door to the room opens on an actor with blood on his hands and an actual dead body in front of him. 

The actor is William Toons, to whom Rina had been introduced earlier in the weekend.  She was also been told by another participant that his blossoming acting career had been badly affected when a girl had (mistakenly) accused him of assault.  He is now distraught but also seems to have been keen to ascertain that the person was indeed dead – the blood on his hands shows this and he later says as much.  Indeed, Rina suspects that he knew the man. 

The police are called, and Rina, who has been involved in a number of police investigations, knows a lot of the officers, being friends with Inspector Mac MacGregor and his partner Miriam, a senior CSI.  The police discover that the body has been in a freezer and must, therefore, have actually been brought to the venue.  Eventually, the audience and actors are allowed to leave and Rina, thinking that Will looks worried, invites him to come and see her if he is in the area again.  And so he does.  Rina persuades him to talk and he reveals a story of death and blackmail but is unwilling to tell the police until he has spoken to other people involved.  Rina lets him go and then tells the police herself.  But there is still much to find out before the final denouement.

This, the10th book in this popular series, is a clever story, using a happy seasonal event to introduce the shock of a dead body.  The investigation is deftly handled, with the various threads suggesting differing solutions, but ultimately wound together to provide the final resolution.  The characters are work well together, with Rina occupying a strong central role, as much facilitator as sleuth, and fitting well with her group of friends.
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books in this series:  Rina Martin Mystery Series:  Murder on Sea, Murder on the Cliff, Murder on the Boat, Murder on the Beach, Murder at the Country Pub, Murder on the Farm, Murder at the Willows, Murder at the Wedding. Other series feature:  Detective Mike Croft; Detective Ray Flowers; Detective Rozlyn Priest.  Standalones:  The Other Woman, The Woman in the Painting, Then She Was Dead. 

Jane Adams was born in Leicestershire, where she still lives. She has a degree in Sociology and has held a variety of jobs including lead vocalist in a folk rock band. She enjoys pen and ink drawing; martial arts and her ambition is to travel the length of the Silk Road by motorbike. Her first book, The Greenway, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Award in 1995 and for the Author's Club Best First Novel Award. Jane writes several series.  Her first series featured Mike Croft. Several books featuring DS Ray Flowers. Seven titles featuring blind Naoimi Blake, and eight titles featuring Rina Martin. Her most recentt series is set between the two World Wars and featuring Detective Inspector Henry Johnstone and his Sergeant, Micky Hitchens. Jane has also written several standalone novels. She is married with two children.

www.janeadamsauthor.com   

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.