A mystery more delightful for its company, the sassy Emma the girl detective. ( )

Just loved it. I see one of the other reviewers remarked that there were some inconsistencies with the earlier books and said they did not mind at all. Nor do I. Having just re-read the earlier books I noticed them - but with affection! For me a really satisfying read, I really hated to have to put it down, yet I did not want to finish it too quickly. ( )

This was a good story but I felt like I was left hanging at the end. Maybe that is how we are supposed to feel. Not all of life's questions are answered.
It is an amusing tale of a 12 year old girl who lives with her mother and brother in a hotel. She is supposed to help wait on tables during the meals but often goes off sleuthing on her own. She gets interested in an old mystery of a kidnapped baby that happened at the Belle Ruin Hotel. Nothing is ever decided although she does have many interesting theories. But we are really left hanging. I enjoy Martha Grimes and her Richard Jury books so much more. ( )

This is the third of Grimes' Emma Graham books. Emma is the 12-year old I first met many years ago in Hotel Paradise, one of my favorite books ever. Basically, Belle Ruin is the first half of a longer novel which includes Fadeaway Girl (my take, Grimes might not agree). The first two books in the series stand on their own, the last two, really should go together, with some serious cutting and editing. I have basically discussed my views of these two books under Fadeaway Girl, so if you care what I thought, go to that review.
( )

My husband picked this up for me when I said "anything by Martha Grimes", me being completely unaware that she'd written books about any character other than Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland Yard. This book is the second in a series about a 12 year old girl whose family owns and lives in a hotel somewhere in the non-specific southern region of the US. The book seems to expect the reader to have read the first book and is constantly referring back to events in that book without much detail so you're left in the dark as to what they're talking about. The girl works as a waitress in the hotel and spends much of her time being cruel to one of the elderly residents by putting hot peppers in her food and thinking it's funny. This book centers on the kidnapping of a baby that occurred more than 20 years prior and basically ends with no resolution whatsoever. I disliked the girl and I can't believe I wasted my time on this book. ( )