by Dominique Daoust

A Book Review by Jackie Houchin

I loved how A DISAPPEARANCE AT THE BONNE NUIT HOTEL begins!. Author Dominique Daoust briefly introduces her protagonist, sets up the scene, and then takes off running.

Rita Larose is tired of covering boring women’s stories for the local Montreal newspaper she works for. She wants something meaty, but in the 1930s women just don’t get those kinds of stories. However, by her wits and persistence, she convinces her boss at the newspaper to allow her to go undercover as a maid at the posh Bonne Nuit Hotel to see if she can find a missing young woman and a murderer.

What she discovers on the first day as she learns the ropes of cleaning rooms to meet the impossible hotel standards, “pos-i-tutely” blows her mind, and nearly her cover. Determined, hardworking, and with a bit of help from her secret source, Rita gets the story of a lifetime, without getting “offed” herself.

And then, until the next great story comes her way, Rita begins to work on the unsolved case of her mother’s murder when she was a baby. In the closing scene of the book, she reveals a huge clue that will carry her onward.

Since this is a 3-book series, her quest must continue into the next books, perhaps while covering even greater headline stories.

The only reason I gave the book FOUR & a half stars, is because of the few (enough to annoy) idiosyncrasies in her main character’s vocabulary.  I loved her “the bee’s knees” “I’d go crackers!” and “spending a lot of kale (money).” But I’m not sure they used the terms, “first responders” “personal space” and “a low-life” in the 1930’s.  But all in all, it was a very fun to read book.

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