Wendy Francis (Best Behavior) delivers a smart, probing drama that skillfully unravels the complex emotional lives of an ensemble cast in Summertime Guests, a novel set over one weekend in June at a posh hotel on Boston's North Shore.
Legendary elegance is the hallmark of the Seafarer, a famous, historic hotel. After a major renovation, the landmark destination reopens under the management of workaholic 39-year-old Parisian Jean-Paul, who has a wife and new baby he is woefully neglecting. There are 250 rooms at the Seafarer. Francis narrows her focus to a handful of guests: Riley and Tom, a young Midwestern couple planning a wedding at the establishment, are challenged by the overbearing expectations of the groom's mother. Widowed Rhode Island journalist Claire O'Dell, age 61, checks into the hotel to take a breather. Claire wrote a provocative article about a local politician with mob ties, and her newspaper suggests she take some time off. Claire uses the opportunity to reconnect with an old flame who lives near Boston. And then there is a 30-something couple: Gwen, a teaching assistant, who treats her beau, Jason, an adjunct professor, to a weekend birthday getaway in the hope of healing their fraught relationship. Emotional and personal complications abound and deepen for these strangers after a woman plunges to her death from a hotel balcony.
The subsequent investigation into the mysterious sudden death makes for a reflective, deeply engaging and suspenseful story with many threads sure to ensnare the attention of rapt readers. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines