One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day #JamieDay @SaskiaAudio @MacmillanAudio

the setup…
Charley Kelley is a nineteen-year old chambermaid at The Precipice Hotel in Jonesport, Maine and she’s really good at her job. She lives there but still struggles to make ends meet as she’s also supporting her grandmother who has dementia and stays at an assisted living facility. The owner of the hotel, George Bishop, just died and his three daughters (Vicki, Faith and Iris) are returning for the reading of the will, coming in the middle of Hurricane Larry. Right before their arrival, Charley agrees to let a woman hiding from her abusive boyfriend secretly stay at the hotel for a week. When the Bishop sisters and their families show up, the real fun…and murders…begin.

the heart of the story…
I was prepared to expect these sisters to bring plenty of baggage for their hotel stay but their behavior and secrets went further over the top than even I could have imagined. Interspersed throughout the present day narrative were the sisters’ backstories, timed to provide insights into what was happening real time. The word dysfunctional is an understatement for this family and when bodies started showing up, everyone was a suspect. Still, I was able to correctly cobble together the likely whodunit despite their truly over-the-top behavior.

the narration…
Saskia Maarleveld is one of my favorite voices and she was perfect for this crazy story. She made me almost believe it.

the bottom line…
This was certainly entertaining though not all that challenging as a mystery, despite the hurricane drama. It was kind of fun trying to guess what the next outrageous reveal might be. Thank goodness for Charley because there weren’t many other characters I could even come close to liking. This was a different kind of locked room mystery that brought more jaw-dropping revelations than thrills.

Book Info

• Release Date: July 16, 2024
• Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
• Audio Length: 11 hours, 12 minutes
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio

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(Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)