The Socialite’s Guide to Murder

In Golden’s debut, a sprightly series launch set in 1958, Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy—fashionable daughter of the owner of New York City’s glittering Pinnacle Hotel—faces the theft of a valuable painting; the murder of the artist; and the possible involvement of her best friend, an actor. Haunted by past trauma but adept at finding lost items, Evelyn enlists the aid of handsome and shady hotel employee Malcolm “Mac” Cooper as she contemplates whether a guest or a staff member may be the perpetrator. Detective Hodgson regards the hotel’s security chief as the prime suspect, but Evelyn is not so sure, eyeing individuals such as an obnoxious countess, a mysterious maid, and a prickly hotel manager. Though the detective dismisses Evelyn’s sleuthing, even he must concede she may be on to something when her room is ransacked and her life is endangered. With her creation of an intriguing upstairs/downstairs world, Golden channels the spirit of the late Hugh Pentecost’s Beaumont Hotel. Readers will be eager to check into Evelyn’s next adventure. Agent: Madelyn Burt, Stonesong. (Oct.)