I love a bit of
mystery and The Dark Days at the Beach Hotel by Francesca Capaldi delivers a
great read with lots of twists and turns from a wonderful cast of characters.
Helen Bygrove and her
husband are going to go into business together as hoteliers. It should all be wonderful, but it isn’t. Her husband is a bully and she feels so
frustrated trying to make herself heard. However, the tide turns when he is
conscripted and finally Helen can do the best for the hotel, and its staff.
It isn’t all plain
sailing and as the story unfolds, we see mystery and intrigue as someone is
determined to close them down.
I loved the
characters, including the baddies, and the beautiful way in which the author descriptively
paints the scenes, drawing us into a bygone era. I was so invested in the
outcome for Helen and the hotel.
This was a delightful
read.
Book description
Can Helen save the hotel… and her reputation? Helen Bygrove is managing the hotel, now that her husband has been conscripted. Against all expectations, Helen and her team are doing marvellously, despite the shortages brought by war. Even the exacting Lady Blackmore agrees. But then the calm is shattered when poison pen letters are sent to prominent townsfolk and Helen finds herself the target of a police investigation. Is someone trying to ruin Helen, and the Beach Hotel? And can she rely on the handsome but taciturn Inspector Toshack to help her? When her husband, Douglas, is invalided out of the war he is determined to take back control of the hotel and things go from bad to worse. How can she ever escape his bullying? Is she a fool to hope that she may have a second chance at love? Treat yourself here– https://geni.us/bXV7CAbout the Author
Francesca has enjoyed writing since she was a child, largely influenced by a Welsh mother who was good at improvised story telling. Writing under both her maiden name, Francesca Capaldi, and her married name, Francesca Burgess, she is the author of historical novels, short stories and several pocket novels. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. The first novel in the Wartime in the Valleys series, Heartbreak in the Valleys, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Award 2021. Both the Valleys series and the Beach Hotel series are published by Hera Books. Francesca was born and brought up on the Sussex coast, but currently lives in Kent with her family and a cat called Lando Calrission.
