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Age 12 and up
150 pages, 43 chapters
The Story
"We all stared at the mushrooms. "Puffballs," Mr. Bains pronounced again. "Found them behind the greenhouse." "Death angels, most likely," said Glenys. "My granny thought she was eating puffballs. Turned out to be death angels. A week later she dropped dead." "I ain't eating them," said Flora. She and Ina had crept out of the scullery to see. "Take them back outside and get rid of them, Mr. Bains," said Mrs. Wiggs. "I'll take no chances of a guest being poisoned. Not at the St. Alice." "
It's 1908 and 16 year old Charlotte O'Dell has found a job working in the dining room at the elegant St. Alice Hotel, hoping to pay her way into a good school. It doesn't take Charlotte long to make friends with some of the staff and win over the guests at the posh mountain resort. But not everyone wants to make friends, and a murder at the hotel leaves guests reeling, and Charlotte stuck in the middle, as more than one person has a motive and is out for revenge . . .
The strengths of Murder at the St. Alice are found in the setting and the cast of characters, both of which quickly draw readers in. B.C. author Becky Citra introduces the murder plot late in the novel . . . yet she does so with a deft hand, waiting until the very moment when readers are swept up in the gaiety that is the St. Alice. Citra advances the plot with short chapters that comprise enough twists and surprise revelations to keep readers hooked and guessing until the end.