Idgie Says:
This is a novel with a fun twist to it. Arthur Conan Doyle, who I found to be whiny, petulant, arrogant and fairly unlikable in this book, is married to the lovely, adorable Louisa. She has a sense of humor, loves cranky Arthur to death, very much enjoys a good roll in the hay with him............and also knows how to remain independent even with Arthur hovering over her every step.
She starts sneaking out of the New York hotel they are staying in for a book tour/publisher meeting and picking up the "salacious" newspapers she finds laying about. She is shocked when she finds an article about a vicious murder of a streetwalker - a woman who she saw in the lobby of the hotel she's staying at and appeared very much not to be a streetwalker. She sends a note to the Police Commissioner - who rebuffs her help. In another interesting twist to the story, the Commissioner is Theodore Roosevelt! Fun!
The adventure begins after Whiny Arthor heads off to a book tour leaving Louisa stranded at the hotel with a twisted ankle, reading his telegrams about poor laundry service, sad sleeping arrangements and the low stash of underwear in his possession. With nothing better to do, Louisa determines to hook up with Teddy and solve this crime!
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Winter at Death’s Hotel: A Novel Author Kenneth Cameron
Publisher: Sourcebooks
ISBN: 9781402280825
Publication Date: August 13, 2013
Arthur Conan Doyle's wife Louisa is cast as the unlikely sleuth hunting down a serial killer.
In January 1896, Conan Doyle arrives at the Britannic Hotel in New York with Louisa, ready to begin his first American tour. When a woman's brutally butchered corpse is found in a Bowery alley, Louisa is convinced from the artist's sketch in the paper that she'd seen the victim at the hotel.
When Louisa sprains her ankle and is forced to remain at the hotel while her husband goes on tour, she cannot resist pursuing her intuitions. And when more bodies start appearing, she's convinced that she holds the key to solving the killings.
The novel is based loosely on the Conan Doyle’s life. The couple married in 1885 and had two children. Conan Doyle did arrive in New York in September 1884 with his younger brother Innes and traveled to thirty U.S. cities as part of an extensive tour. Louisa died of tuberculosis in 1906.