Cleaning Up in the Valkyrie Suite

by Julia Ross

Cleaning Up in the Valkyrie Suite follows the journey of protagonist, Prudence Baxter, who loses her long-standing job as a P.A, in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis. Hitting a brick wall, how will she manage when her life takes a dramatic turn, leaving Prudence feeling lost and alone?

If you’re single, 55 and unemployed you’re a nobody, right? Taking on this new persona, Prudence believes there is only one way to go: watching daytime T.V. in her pyjamas, sifting through the items in the close-to-sell-by-date tubs in the supermarkets and resisting the offers of pay-day loan sharks. Life has become grim. Making matters worse, she learns she might even be forced to sell her family home. Everything seems to be out of control...

After searching relentlessly for work, Prudence eventually finds a new job, a role her previous self would have turned her delicate nose up at! She begins work as a chamber maid in a newly opened hotel. Dressed in her unflattering uniform, she feels her self-esteem and social status have disappeared off the scale. What’s more, her salary will leave no margin to set aside for all those little disasters that life frequently throws at her and expects her to pay for. However, during her time cleaning the Valkyrie Suite, she begins to suspect that the new hotel, and its T.V. personality owner, are not really what they seem to be... Although her natural nosy self draws her into an investigation and suddenly her daily cleaning round is interrupted by bizarre encounters, threats and even personal danger, Prudence finally has the chance to realise one of her long-held dreams...

Genres: Mystery

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

See Julia Ross for health subjects.

Reviews

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn’t really my usual pick. When I read the blurb I was expecting chick-lit of the serious sort. Why? Well because the main character Prudence Baxter is down on her luck. The company she worked for shut down and left her unemployed but at least she still has her childhood home that her mother willed to her right?! Wrong. It’s actually falling apart and since she has no job she can’t afford the repairs so it looks like she’s going to have to sell up. To forestall this she goes job hunting, unfortunately for her the only job she can get is as a chambermaid in the new hotel that has opened up. Not only is the position far below her level of experience but the pay is pretty bad too.
Prudence herself isn’t a character you can warm up to easily. She seems hard and proud and stuck in her ways. But she’s also smart and she soon notices that all is not as it seems at the hotel. It’s this and the ending that seem more cozy mystery than anything else to me.
The mystery aspect was interesting, as was the way the story was handled. Perhaps if I could relate to Prudence better I would have liked this book more. On the whole it wasn’t a bad read, 3 stars for me.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I even begin? I almost gave up on this book about 1/3 of the way in. I thought it was just going to go on giving a daily blow-by-blow of the miserable life of Prudence Baxter - a single, never-married woman in her mid-fifties who was laid off from her job of 30 years and was only able to find employment as a housekeeper at a swanky new hotel. I thought she was just a judgemental busy-body and I was getting kind of annoyed with her.

I am so glad I stuck it out! Once it gets going the story is exciting and intriguing. It wasn't at all what I expected. I don't know how to explain it without giving it away...I've written and deleted several attempts. There is one mystery at the hotel Pru tries to solve and in doing so she stumbles upon an even bigger mystery.

As you get to know Pru, you understand why she is the way she is and sympathize with her. You will find yourself rooting for her. In the end it is a very satisfying story and I highly recommend it.

[Ilana · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easygoing story, with a lot of side stories not exactly necessarily, but written with a lot of humour. Some of the dialogues are irresistible hilarious and though and this is the biggest merit of the book. It is a cosy mystery, sometimes too cosy, but readable in one shot, just to keep your mind busy after an obnoxious hard day at work.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review