Binding: Paperback
Date Published: 12 Feb 2026
A deliciously cosy and clever mystery with buckets of charm, and a cast of characters you can't help but adore. - Hana Tooke, author of The Unadoptables Two girls who live in a hotel are drawn into a murder mystery in this charming, classic-feeling cosy-crime children's debut from bestselling Irish author Emily Hourican - perfect for fans of Murder Most Unladylike, The Swifts and Enid Blyton. Twelve-year-old Meredith and ten-year-old Macy feel like the luckiest girls around. The Ivy Hotel in Dublin is old, beautiful and beloved, with a tight-knit staff that feel like family, and they get to call it home. Meredith and Macy's mum is the General Manager, and their modest apartment is tucked away in a corner, but it has lots of perks. The girls make friends with long-term residents - like Colin, the quiet little boy who plays piano, and Agatha, the eccentric older lady who stays in a plush suite with her dog, Milo. The girls love spying on fancy events, sneaky treats from the restaurant and knowing all the secret stairs and corridors that guests never see, where the staff move around invisibly, making sure everything runs like clockwork... This is going to come in handy. Because within the cosy walls of the Ivy Hotel, there is also danger, intrigue and threat. Just as the hotel's new owners arrive, ready to sniff out any excuse to make cuts and fire staff, the girls are faced with their biggest task yet: a murder to solve. A welcoming and super-cosy hotel setting with a loveable cast of characters and a dash of danger, perfect for mystery fans age 9-12. Alternating perspectives from two brilliant sisters - responsible and emotional Meredith and fierce, logical Macy. Full of suspense, sleuthing and twisting discoveries, as the kids take the lead, working to cleverly uncover the identity of a mysterious guest and his even more mysterious death...