Ink and Intrigue at Ivy Tree Inn (Ariadne Winter Mystery Series) by Ellen Butler – Review by Debbie Best

Ink and Intrigue at Ivy Tree Inn: An Ariadne Winter Murder Mystery by Ellen Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s the winter of 1958, and our heroine, Ariadne (Greek “Most Holy”) is a fresh ingénue chafing to transition her writing skills from the fluff pieces of Ladies Lifestyle Magazine to investigative journalism. Her editor sends her on a week-long quest to obtain an interview with the lovely Donna Morgan, a Grace Kelly-esque star who is set to marry the prince of a small European nation. Intrigue follows as the journalistic relationship with the star is established and immediately tested.

Simultaneously, young Ariadne is thrust into the midst of intrigue and murder at the Ivy Tree Inn, the establishment where her aunt has booked her stay. It seems that everyone she has contact with at the Inn has some sort of deep, dark secret. All come crashing to a head when the establishment’s proprietor winds up dead. Who did it – the guest with a long-standing hatred for the manager’s mother? The couple to whom the deceased owed money. It is up to the hapless police and our heroine to solve the mystery.

Unfolding from multiple perspectives the story moves at a fairly rapid pace and is occasionally a bit bogged down with too much detail. However, if you are looking for a cozy mystery to fill a winter day, this will fit the bill.

View all my reviews