There's a good story in here somewhere, full of lovely writing and interesting fairy tales and poignant themes of family legacy, but stumbling as it does over its own awkward pacing and muffled as it is under the unrelenting egotism of its protagonist, you'd never guess. ( )

(47) This was just OK - a fairly forgettable formulaic gothic mystery. hidden family secrets, an old hotel, mistaken identities, lost mothers, old artwork and jewels, etc., etc. Is it possible I have now read so much in my life, that everything seems derivative. . . This even had woven in fairy tales as allegory which I feel certain is a trope I've read in many a book.

The writing was pedestrian and I often lost the thread of the convoluted relationships between the characters, many of whom were already dead and thus never felt three dimensional. I think if dead people are going to play a big character role in a novel it helps to have some flashbacks from their perspective. I never could really care about Iris's mother or the villain, Peter Kron.

I guess Goodman's novels are OK for a plane or a beach read. The ones I have read (also 'Lake of Dead Languages, 'Sea of Lost Girls') seems to all have potentially interesting plot lines and settings but the execution is so blasé - they are ultimately disappointing and forgettable. ( )

Carol Goodman is one of my favorite mystery authors and did not disappoint with this story. It's about an author, Iris Greenfede, who decides to solve a mystery about her mom. Her mom was also an author who wrote a hit story, but died before the sequel was published. Iris has to go back to the hotel where her parents worked and she grew up to do some sleuthing and writing. Add in the beauty of the Catskills, a dash of romance, and a helping of art community and you have the joy of this riddle.

It wasn't my favorite by Carol Goodman but I still enjoyed myself very much while escaping to the busy, intense summer of Iris. ( )

Struggling to jump start her literary career, floundering writer and adjunct professor Iris Greenfeder decides to pursue questions of her mother's long past mysterious death and subsequently never completed fantasy trilogy. Spurned on by her mother's agent and a desire to unravel the secrets of her family's past, Iris returns to the Catskills hotel of her youth, her mother's writing haven and the starting point of her parents' love affair. A Gothic tale rife with mystery, secret identities, and dangerous lies. Slow to develop and lacking some of the atmospheric qualities of The Lake of Dead Languages, but a satisfying spiraling finish of murder and deceit punctuated with the images of lyrical Irish folk tales. ( )

A well-crafted thriller with a beautiful use of language. ( )