An Unwanted Guest

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

What begins as a relaxing, winter weekend
getaway for a motley group of guests, turns into
a nightmare of murder and mayhem.

Mitchell's Inn is a quaint, picturesque retreat cozily
nestled in the breathtaking Catskills Mountains.
The guests arriving on this particular day are
strangers to one another, but they do have one
thing in common.....they all have closely guarded
secrets.

The powdery, crystalline beauty of falling snow
lulls them into peaceful tranquility until the
the discovery of a dead body suddenly changes everything.

It all starts the first night when a devastatingly beautiful
guest plunges to her death after falling down the
grand staircase. Could it be a tragic accident, or is her rich
boyfriend somehow responsible? After all, they were heard
arguing in the middle of the night. The soft blanket of white
turns into a dangerous sheet of ice, leaving the Inn with
no power and impassable roads. It looks like the dead body
must remain in their midst until the police can arrive. In the
meantime, another guest is found bludgeoned to death, and
then another, until panic sets it and accusations begin to fly.
Who's the next victim?

Agatha Christie fans will immediately see similarities
between her famous "Ten Little Indians" and this
captivating suspense thriller. It's an age-old plot
that stands the test of time. It's up to the reader to decide;
is the perpetrator one of the guests with a mysterious past,
or someone lurking outside, hiding in the ice-encrusted shadows?


The author marvelously creates a foreboding, menacing
atmosphere for impending doom with her vividly written,
descriptive passages, putting  the reader on edge throughout
the book. The frigid, forlorn isolation of the Inn, tucked
away in the desolate mountains, is the perfect setting
for calculated murder.

If you are looking for a good, old-fashioned, chilling
murder mystery, give this one a try. And have fun
deciding who the culprit really is.