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The Boutique Hotel
What happened in the days leading to murder at a glamourous destination wedding?
The story is set against the sophisticated backdrop of Nice, France. Evie Hansen, a travel agent determined to prove her worth, attends a destination wedding at the luxurious Negresco Hotel while staying at The Boutique Hotel au Coeur de Nice. She has sworn off dating, having suddenly been dropped by her boyfriend. Enter lawyer Jacob Liszt who is recovering from a stormy relationship and reluctant to start a new one.
Evie’s professional goals are upended by her discovery of a body on the hotel's terrace. The search for answers leads her to partner with Jacob. Their investigation into the murder reveals disturbing truths about The Boutique Hotel, drawing them into a dangerous web of secrets and lies. They dig deeper, facing mounting peril, while navigating their growing feelings for each other.
Evie is forced to confront not only the dark realities of the case but her own life choices and aspirations.
The story is set against the sophisticated backdrop of Nice, France. Evie Hansen, a travel agent determined to prove her worth, attends a destination wedding at the luxurious Negresco Hotel while staying at The Boutique Hotel au Coeur de Nice. She has sworn off dating, having suddenly been dropped by her boyfriend. Enter lawyer Jacob Liszt who is recovering from a stormy relationship and reluctant to start a new one.
Evie’s professional goals are upended by her discovery of a body on the hotel's terrace. The search for answers leads her to partner with Jacob. Their investigation into the murder reveals disturbing truths about The Boutique Hotel, drawing them into a dangerous web of secrets and lies. They dig deeper, facing mounting peril, while navigating their growing feelings for each other.
Evie is forced to confront not only the dark realities of the case but her own life choices and aspirations.
230 pages, Paperback
Published July 29, 2025
1 person is currently reading
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 2, 2025
I loved this book! Set in gorgeous southern coast of France, I felt like I was transported to the setting-the descriptions were so immersive, especially the coastal scenes and descriptions of Evie and Jacob swimming.
Evie's journey felt real and relatable, navigating rough waters of a career in the travel industry while dealing with tragic events of her past and a shocking breakup.
While I was worried her relationship with Jacob was going to develop too quickly, it ended up feeling real and organic-irresistible, actually. The light-hearted treatment of him in the first half of the book, contrasts with the turmoil he and Evie must wrestles with.
The twists were unbelievable, especially near the end-totally unexpected what happened at the end, but it made for a telling statement about society. Having said that, it was the emotional depths the characters endured that made the book hard to put down.
All in all I appreciated that the book wasn't drawn out, but a quick read (I read it over two days!) with lots of tension and suspense that wasn't entirely driven by the mystery created at the beginning, but had a strong statement about society.
Evie's journey felt real and relatable, navigating rough waters of a career in the travel industry while dealing with tragic events of her past and a shocking breakup.
While I was worried her relationship with Jacob was going to develop too quickly, it ended up feeling real and organic-irresistible, actually. The light-hearted treatment of him in the first half of the book, contrasts with the turmoil he and Evie must wrestles with.
The twists were unbelievable, especially near the end-totally unexpected what happened at the end, but it made for a telling statement about society. Having said that, it was the emotional depths the characters endured that made the book hard to put down.
All in all I appreciated that the book wasn't drawn out, but a quick read (I read it over two days!) with lots of tension and suspense that wasn't entirely driven by the mystery created at the beginning, but had a strong statement about society.
June 13, 2025
The book was better than I expected, which is always a good thing. More mystery than a romance, with a murder and child exploitation occurring at The Boutique Hotel in Nice, France. Some choice red herrings are included to keep you guessing.
May 27, 2025
Interesting characters and several twists along the way. A very good read
Thank you to Melissa D MacKinnon, NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book
Thank you to Melissa D MacKinnon, NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book
October 24, 2025
Available on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and where ever books are sold. Find out why Evie and Jacob partner up in this exciting adventure and compelling commentary about the service industry.
October 31, 2025
Good grief, this was bad. Our main POV characters are as follows: Evie, a sad sack twentysomething with an unrealistically insane boss, who is good enough friends with these people to fly to a destination wedding in France, but not good enough friends with any of them to just admit that she’s too broke to afford anything to eat but salads. Jacob, a well-paid lawyer from a rich family with the interiority of third grader, who focuses exclusively on when and what he’s going to eat next, what Evie’s eating, and his developing feelings for Evie, which can be summed up as “girl pretty”. And Raina, a weirdo with a shitty husband who’s obsessed with her job at the hotel while being spectacularly bad at said job.
Their POVs are distinguished only by the events they describe, as the writing style is the exact same for each person, and that style is bad. A very simplistic writing style is not the worst thing in the world (this was a very quick read because of it), but when it’s also in present tense and the narrators are all very stupid the whole vibe becomes painfully See Spot Run. None of these characters have anything remotely interesting to say to each other, which makes every conversation incredibly boring. I had hoped for a little South of France escapism, but describing how they walk from one street with a French name to another street with a French name is not exactly immersive.
This could have been fine, the ingredients were there, but the whole thing is hamstrung by a persistent focus on the least interesting things happening at any given moment as well as a complete misrepresentation of how anything works in real life. The groom’s lawyer spends a lot of time trying to get the other groom to sign the pre-nup as they are all in place for the wedding, like, really? But then basically right before reaching the altar the guy just signs it. Okay, sure. Great resolution to that gripping subplot. Do not get me started on the murder investigation, where everyone close to the victim seems completely baffled as to why the cops want to talk to them. Yeah, who could imagine. Also, after a little bit of morning-of grieving, everyone seems to have moved on to focusing on things other than their dead sibling/spouse/friend. Nobody acts like a normal person at any point in this book. They are all nuts, but boring nuts.
Finally, a note to the publisher—nobody is desperate enough to illegally download your books to justify this only being available in the NetGalley Shelf app with every page watermarked. I can only use that app on my phone and that made this book a pain in the ass eyestrain to read.
My thanks to Friesen Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I will not be reading another Friesen Press title until they decide to prioritize reader experience over unfounded paranoia and offer their titles as normal ebooks.
Their POVs are distinguished only by the events they describe, as the writing style is the exact same for each person, and that style is bad. A very simplistic writing style is not the worst thing in the world (this was a very quick read because of it), but when it’s also in present tense and the narrators are all very stupid the whole vibe becomes painfully See Spot Run. None of these characters have anything remotely interesting to say to each other, which makes every conversation incredibly boring. I had hoped for a little South of France escapism, but describing how they walk from one street with a French name to another street with a French name is not exactly immersive.
This could have been fine, the ingredients were there, but the whole thing is hamstrung by a persistent focus on the least interesting things happening at any given moment as well as a complete misrepresentation of how anything works in real life. The groom’s lawyer spends a lot of time trying to get the other groom to sign the pre-nup as they are all in place for the wedding, like, really? But then basically right before reaching the altar the guy just signs it. Okay, sure. Great resolution to that gripping subplot. Do not get me started on the murder investigation, where everyone close to the victim seems completely baffled as to why the cops want to talk to them. Yeah, who could imagine. Also, after a little bit of morning-of grieving, everyone seems to have moved on to focusing on things other than their dead sibling/spouse/friend. Nobody acts like a normal person at any point in this book. They are all nuts, but boring nuts.
Finally, a note to the publisher—nobody is desperate enough to illegally download your books to justify this only being available in the NetGalley Shelf app with every page watermarked. I can only use that app on my phone and that made this book a pain in the ass eyestrain to read.
My thanks to Friesen Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I will not be reading another Friesen Press title until they decide to prioritize reader experience over unfounded paranoia and offer their titles as normal ebooks.
July 30, 2025
Boutique Hotel
When my ARC request for this book was approved I was so excited. That excitement quickly dissipated, sadly. The underlying premise was interesting and the book was fast paced, for sure. But it tried to be too much: insta love, amateur detective, cinnamon roll MMC but damaged FMC not ready for MMC’s love, political commentary. And, I think I could have gotten past all of that except the dialogue reads like everyone has overdosed on Valium—it’s basically stream of consciousness and it becomes very grating very fast.
The premise is interesting: a new boutique budget hotel opens in Niece but the morning after a wedding a dead body is discovered. But this book just can’t decide what it’s going to be. Will it be contemporary fiction set at a beautiful location? Is it a murder mystery? Is it a social justice story exploring immigrant child exploitation? Or is it the hangover with characters potentially having been drugged (never addressed, just implied) trying to piece together a night out preceding a he murder? It’s totally unclear to me how any of these characters are connected at the onset of the story, any problem is instantly resolved, the damaged FMC goes from being weak and submissive for 50% of the book to automatically being assertive after one night of post-wedding drinks. And, upon seeing one another, 2 of the characters are madly and passionately in love. No, just no.
I think this author has a lot of passions that, if focused on just one or two, could result in a great story. The bones are there—they just don’t have any meat, I’m so sorry to say.
Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and opine.
When my ARC request for this book was approved I was so excited. That excitement quickly dissipated, sadly. The underlying premise was interesting and the book was fast paced, for sure. But it tried to be too much: insta love, amateur detective, cinnamon roll MMC but damaged FMC not ready for MMC’s love, political commentary. And, I think I could have gotten past all of that except the dialogue reads like everyone has overdosed on Valium—it’s basically stream of consciousness and it becomes very grating very fast.
The premise is interesting: a new boutique budget hotel opens in Niece but the morning after a wedding a dead body is discovered. But this book just can’t decide what it’s going to be. Will it be contemporary fiction set at a beautiful location? Is it a murder mystery? Is it a social justice story exploring immigrant child exploitation? Or is it the hangover with characters potentially having been drugged (never addressed, just implied) trying to piece together a night out preceding a he murder? It’s totally unclear to me how any of these characters are connected at the onset of the story, any problem is instantly resolved, the damaged FMC goes from being weak and submissive for 50% of the book to automatically being assertive after one night of post-wedding drinks. And, upon seeing one another, 2 of the characters are madly and passionately in love. No, just no.
I think this author has a lot of passions that, if focused on just one or two, could result in a great story. The bones are there—they just don’t have any meat, I’m so sorry to say.
Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and opine.
May 21, 2025
This was a fun way to kick off a warm sunny weekend. A destination wedding in Nice, France brings together a mixed group of lawyers trying to get prenups squared away, a travel agent trying to mix business with pleasure and old college friends of the groom's brother. What starts off as a fun getaway at the newly renovated, budget priced Boutique Hotel of Nice, turns darker when children keep turning up, without seeming to belong to any guests, and then travel agent Evie finds a body in the bushes by the pool.
Two mysteries, a fancy wedding, hookups and love connections, annoying bosses, and the beautiful sun drenched south of France make this a good, quick read.
My only complaint, was that the "watermarks" on the free readers copy that I got, were very, VERY intrusive - often appearing in the middle of a sentence. And the first page was so messed up that I'm not entirely sure, exactly how the book actually begins. The transitions from character view points were also jarring and I imagine that's largely because of the odd page breaks, and watermarks due to the reader copy version.
Two mysteries, a fancy wedding, hookups and love connections, annoying bosses, and the beautiful sun drenched south of France make this a good, quick read.
My only complaint, was that the "watermarks" on the free readers copy that I got, were very, VERY intrusive - often appearing in the middle of a sentence. And the first page was so messed up that I'm not entirely sure, exactly how the book actually begins. The transitions from character view points were also jarring and I imagine that's largely because of the odd page breaks, and watermarks due to the reader copy version.
October 1, 2025
A determined travel agent sets out to unravel a chilling murder hidden beneath the glittering façade of the French Riviera in MacKinnon’s compelling novel. Sent to Nice to negotiate a lucrative hotel contract, Evie Hansen instead discovers a corpse concealed in the Boutique Hotel’s terrace garden. With lawyer Jacob Liszt as her unexpected ally, she follows a deadly trail of hidden agendas while grappling with the emotions she’s tried to bury. Can they find the killer before it's too late?
MacKinnon's characters carry a lived-in complexity. Evie’s struggle with personal loss and financial instability grounds her every move, and Jacob’s understated vulnerability softens his polished charm. A sharp supporting cast—the ambitious concierge Raina, the fractious Liszt family, and the elusive hotel staff—keeps motives shifting, while questions of loyalty, ambition, and the hidden price of luxury add to the book's depth. Elegant, atmospheric, and sharply written, the novel delivers a satisfying balance of romance and danger. Lovers of atmospheric whodunits with a touch of glamour will relish this sparkling yet sinister tale.
MacKinnon's characters carry a lived-in complexity. Evie’s struggle with personal loss and financial instability grounds her every move, and Jacob’s understated vulnerability softens his polished charm. A sharp supporting cast—the ambitious concierge Raina, the fractious Liszt family, and the elusive hotel staff—keeps motives shifting, while questions of loyalty, ambition, and the hidden price of luxury add to the book's depth. Elegant, atmospheric, and sharply written, the novel delivers a satisfying balance of romance and danger. Lovers of atmospheric whodunits with a touch of glamour will relish this sparkling yet sinister tale.
October 1, 2025
I loved The Boutique Hotel! It’s a mix of mystery and self-discovery set in sultry Nice. I found Evie’s life interesting and relatable-she’s a young woman trying to establish herself in her career. Both the mystery and the connection between Evie and Jacob make the story exciting. As well, the social justice theme that emerges is engaging and highly relevant making the book a possible book club selection.
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July 2, 2025Dnf - so much was being said, yet nothing was being said and nothing was happening. Not for me.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews