Hotel Paradise

I was at the library and a title caught my eye.  I had heard of this series several times and I  kept meaning to read them.  The Emma Graham series, written by Martha Grimes, is about a 12 year old girl who solves the mystery of a young girl's death nearly 40 years ago.  This series is different from the usual mystery in that it is an ongoing story throughout all three books.  I just finished Hotel Paradise, so I have yet to see how the rest of the books are, but I think I'm going to love them all as much as I did the first.

The second book in the series.

In Hotel Paradise, Emma Graham is working with her mother at a hotel that they own.  She is kept very busy cooking and serving meals, but she still manages to make time to solve a mystery.  She has a gift for getting adults to tell her stories, which is mainly how she solves the mystery.  She makes many friends along the way and learns more about the mysterious girl's past, including the aunts that wouldn't talk to the girl and the sad story of how this girl was almost rescued from her lonely fate, but instead drowned.

The third book in the series

I really enjoy mysteries that are solved by precocious children who, even though they are quite young, manage to surpass even the police.  One of the first of these was Nancy Drew, who, while not very well written, paved the way for all kinds of mysteries with this theme.

I'm heading to the library today, and I'm definitely going to be checking out the next two Emma Graham books.