Five notable novels set in hotels

Lucy Foley studied English literature at Durham University and University College London and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry.

Her novels include The Paris Apartment, The Guest List, and The Midnight Feast. She lives in London.

All hotels are worlds unto themselves, [Foley writes at the Waterstones blog] tiny universes that follow their own rules and logic. In a murder mystery setting, practically speaking, a hotel ringfences the characters and provides a stage upon which the drama can play out, slightly elevated and separate from the ordinary world. Hotels also provide a modern formulation of the upstairs/ downstairs dynamic so beloved of the whodunnit, a forum in which class tensions can be put under the microscope. And yet they’re also, in another sense, oddly democratic: anyone can stay in a hotel (so long as they can afford the price of a stay!) and become a different or improved version of themselves, freed from the baggage of ordinary life.

One of Foley's five top novels set in a hotel:

The Maid by Nita Prose

Apparently Florence Pugh will soon be bringing Molly the maid to our screens, but I’d definitely recommend reading the wonderful book first. It’s set in the fictional Regency Grand Hotel, peopled by a colourful cast of characters of which many (guests and staff alike) are keeping secrets. The action starts with the discovery that a wealthy guest has been murdered in one of the most luxurious suites, and the neurodivergent Molly becomes both lead suspect and detective in this absorbing mystery. The sequel, The Mystery Guest, is top of my TBR pile.

Read about the other entries at the Waterstones blog.

The Maid is among S.K. Golden's six top mystery novels set in hotels and Amanda Craig's top ten books about cleaners.

--Marshal Zeringue