Murder at the Dolphin Hotel: A Gripping Cozy Historical Mystery

A Miss Underhay Mystery, Book 1

By: Helena Dixon

Narrated by: Alex Tregear

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

A room with a view...to murder

June 1933. Independent, young Kitty Underhay has been left in charge of her family’s hotel, The Dolphin, on the tranquil English coast. She’s expecting her days at the bustling resort to be filled with comfortable chatter with chambermaids as they polish the mahogany desks and glittering candelabras of the elegant foyer. Everything must be perfect for the arrival of a glamorous jazz singer from Chicago and a masked ball that will be the cultural highlight of the season.

But when several rooms are broken into and searched, including Kitty’s own, she quickly realizes that something out of the ordinary is afoot at the hotel. Soon, rumors are flying in the cozy town that someone is on the hunt for a stolen ruby. A ruby that Kitty’s mother may well have possessed when she herself went missing during the Great War. And when the break-ins are followed by a series of attacks and murders, including of the town’s former mayoress, it seems the perpetrator will stop at nothing to find it.

Aided by ex-army captain Matthew Bryant, the Dolphin’s new security officer, Kitty is determined to decipher this mystery and preserve not only the reputation of her hotel, but also the lives of her guests. Is there a cold-blooded killer under her own roof? And what connects the missing jewel to the mystery from Kitty’s own past?

A classic murder mystery! Fans of Agatha Christie, Elizabeth Edmondson, and T. E. Kinsey will love this whodunit.

©2019 Helena Dixon (P)2019 Bookouture

Fun English cozy mystery

If you’re looking for a light, fun, typically English cozy mystery, you’ll enjoy this book. Cute story, well performed. Not great literature, but it’s not meant to be. Entertaining and enjoyable.

Good story, reader has pronunciation issues

A bit of a convoluted story, but entertaining, with the crowd of characters keep interesting.

Reader did excellent characterizations, but has some painful pronunciations, which can jar you out if the story. Luckily, they were one offs, not words used repeatedly.

Excellent start of a new cozy series!

I can't wait to read/listen to the next book in the Underhay series, This was such a well developed beginning. Great characters and back stories are always the most important element and this really gives a feel for the personalities, their history and their place. The historical elements were very interesting and descriptive enough to give me a sense of having been in the room, or the sidewalk.
The description of the book gives you the overview, I hope it entices you to jump in, because it is very entertaining.
Narration - very good. Male voices and female with accents well done.

Loved it!

Well done and fun to listen to . Story line was good and narrator was nice to listen to!

Enjoyable lightweight mystery.

I liked the characters I was meant to like and didn’t like the dastardly ones! Good ending.

Loved this one!

Sometimes it’s just nice to escape into a good story. This one is a great choice for that. I enjoyed the characters and the tale and the inevitable happy ending. There are a lot of open plot lines so future episodes in the series should have opportunities to develop if you enjoy reading series novels. I highly recommend giving this one a listen.

Enjoyable... but ...

I love cozy mysteries and this one was ok, but not a series I’ll pursue. The characters were a little too simple without much depth or anything to draw me to them. There was very little descriptive detail about the area, history, times, village to round out the story, just characters going back and forth. The narrator, although sweet, was too inexperienced or young for my taste and male characters sounded like cartoon characters in places.

A really enjoyable book

Great plot, interesting characters and can’t-put-it -down action. Narrator was also excellent. One of my all time favorites in the cozy mystery genre.

Truly Excellent

This book was so very exciting! I loved the narrator’s voice. It was like I was a fly on the wall in the hotel! I was hoping Kitty and Matt would get their first kiss but perhaps that takes place in the next book. I hope there is another book.

A very entertaining story! Would

I would send this one to another good friend. Story ran smoothly and with a good pace. The story was read with great interest.