What you can discover when helping out a friend

Synopsis

The start of brand-new Cozy Crime series! Welcome to Hopgood Hall.

An unlikely duo…

When investigative journalist, Alexi Ellis, falls victim to cutbacks, she and Cosmo, her anti-social feral cat, head for beautiful Hopgood Hall, where they plan to lick their wounds in the boutique hotel run by her old friends, Cheryl and Drew Hopgood.

A missing woman…

But when she arrives Alexi discovers Cheryl and Drew both distraught. Their close friend, Natalie Parker, who recently settled in the area, has gone missing. Alexi’s sure the woman has just taken a trip somewhere, but she still has a nose for a story and agrees to look into it.

A case to solve!

So too does ex-Met Police detective turned private eye, Jack Maddox. Natalie Parker had been using his sister’s online dating agency and Jack needs to find her before his sister’s business is ruined.

Reluctantly, Alexi, Jack – and Cosmo! – join forces to find out what happened to Natalie. But soon they discover secrets that someone desperately wants to make sure are never revealed!

Perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Frances Evesham and Emma Davies.

My review

When Alexi Ellis is suddenly without a job as an investigative journalist, she decides to head over to Hopgood Hall with her feral cat Cosmo. Staying with her friends Cheryl and Drew Hopgood at their boutique hotel, will be the perfect opportunity to gather her thoughts.
While Cheryl and Drew are happy with Alexi coming over, they cannot hide their worries about their friend Natalie Parker, who seems to have disappeared.
Wanting to help her friends who have been nothing buy helpful, Alexi decides to try to figure out what happened to Natalie.
But she is not the only one looking after Natalie, so is ex – Met Police detective and now Private Detective Jack Maddox. Because Natalie has been using his sister’s online dating agency…
The more Alexi and Jack, and also Cosmo, are discovering from Natalie, the more they realize that someone does not want that Natalie’s secrets are revealed at all… 

When I am reading books, I am not always completely surprised by the revelation of secrets some characters have. Of course, I haven’t always figured out things completely, but I always have a hunch of what may come.
But with this book, the author kept surprising me with new mysteries and new discoveries. 

The book starts with Alexi ‘fleeing’ to her friends after not only losing her job, but also feeling betrayed by her boyfriend, as he was aware of what was happening.
I always like it when a character has a need to get away from what is seen as ‘home’, as it is a great chance for not only the main character to discover wonderful new places.
Of course I also completely understand that Alexi has the need to just go away from everything, to think about her life and what she is going to do next. 

Even if she feels like a terrible friend, as it has been too long since she last saw Cheryl and Drew, she is in fact a great friend. Cheryl and Drew are having worries of their own, so Alexi is ready to help out however she can. She thinks together with them how the hotel can be saved, but she also wants to help them by discovering what happened to Natalie, a woman she doesn’t even know. And that all just because Cheryl and Drew are worried… 

I liked it how Alexi and Jack found each other, as they want to know the same things, even for different reasons. While Alexi does it for her friends, Jack is doing it for his sister. And it shows exactly what Jack’s character is like. He wants to help out his sister, on his own free time, without getting any money from it, even if he is a private detective.
Even if Jack is a great man, with a good gut feeling, it made me laugh reading how a typical man he was, not seeing obvious signs, only when Alexi tells him, he sees how he has been misunderstanding his partner at work… 

Natalie was from the beginning an enigma. We don’t know a lot of her, only that she lives on her own, has her own small business, doesn’t have many friends, and that she only recently has been using Jack’s sister’s dating agency. 

Initially I thought that the mystery of her disappearance was an easy one to solve, but the more I read, the more I realized that in fact, how well do we know the people around us? And not only friends, but also family… Can we ever for 100% know what someone’s thoughts are? That was a terrifying thought, especially when the truth came out… it left me flabbergasted seeing what a turn life can take by one event… 

As I am a rather impatient person, I had the urgency to discover the truth and its depths as soon as possible and seeing all those twists and turns this author made, just made me keep reading. 

Even if the main event is the mystery of Natalie, I also absolutely enjoyed the lighter moments in it. Cosmo for sure stole my heart, even being the most anti – social feral cat ever, how can you not love that cat? Cosmo shows more doglike behaviour, making each appearance even more hilarious, but also shows that even animals, how small or big they are, have a great intuition and can become very protective towards humans and animals they like!
For me, Cosmo stole the show! 😊 

I also appreciated that the author didn’t turn the story too much into a romance. It would have been rather easy as the attraction between Alexi and Jack sparks from each page, but the focus remained on discovering what happened to Natalie. And whatever would happen to Alexi and Jack and their feelings, was important, but not the common thread. 

I feel that this is the great start of a very promising series and I cannot wait to discover what new adventures are waiting for these lovely main characters!