Review - High Treason at the Grand Hotel by Kelly Oliver
I received a free e-galley of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
High Treason at the Grand Hotel is the second installment in the Fiona Figg series by Kelly Oliver. I would call it a cozy historical mystery, similar to the Maisie Dobbs series or the Dandy Gilver series. Fiona Figg is an amateur spy/detective during WWI. In this novel, she is sent on a mission to Paris.
I haven’t read the first book in the series, and while I think it would help to learn more about some of the major characters (Fiona herself, as well as her friend Clifford), the author does a great job of providing background so this novel can stand on its own. I found the book entertaining and sometimes funny, but there are also some very serious scenes. I was interested to learn that several of the characters are based on real people, which lends some depth to the story. I also appreciated Oliver’s efforts to empower and represent women throughout the novel.
The book left me wanting in some respects — I felt that Fiona accidentally helps more than she does intentionally. She bumbles around and makes frequent mistakes and misjudgments. She gets sidetracked. Ultimately, she does solve some of the mysteries introduced in the book, but her successes seemed to hinge more on coincidence rather than her own skill. I also felt that Fiona’s boss, Captain Hall, was portrayed unrealistically in his unreliability and his refusal to have a coherent conversation with his agent. Frankly, I found the relationship between Captain Hall and Fiona to be the most frustrating part of this novel! Perhaps that was intentional on the author’s part as the dynamic forced Fiona to work more independently that she may have otherwise.
Overall, I felt this was a fun read, filled with memorable characters. I plan to add other books in this series to my to-read list.
High Treason at the Grand Hotel by Kelly Oliver is available now on Kindle and in paperback.
