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WORK TITLE: The Hotel Westend
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.ashleylynchharris.com/
CITY: Tampa
STATE: FL
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2016118449
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2016118449
HEADING: Lynch-Harris, Ashley
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035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca10569430
040 __ |a IOrQBI |b eng |e rda |c IOrQBI
046 __ |f 1984-08-10 |2 edtf
100 1_ |a Lynch-Harris, Ashley
370 __ |e Tampa (Fla.) |2 naf
400 1_ |a Harris, Ashley Lynch
670 __ |a The Hotel Westend, 2015: |b PCIP t.p. (Ashley Lynch-Harris) QBI PCIP application (Lynch-Harris, Ashley R., b. August 10, 1984; lives in Tampa, Florida)
PERSONAL
Born August 10, 1984; married; husband’s name Alex.
EDUCATION:University of South Florida, bachelor’s degree.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Mystery novelist and short story writer.
MEMBER:International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch).
WRITINGS
Contributor of short stories to magazines, including Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine.
SIDELIGHTS
Born August 10, 1984, Ashley Lynch-Harris is a writer of mysteries set in the present day. She has published short stories for the Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, in addition to her 2016 debut novel The Hotel Westend: A Mystery, book one of the “Maitland Sisters Mystery” series. Writing on her Ashley Lynch-Harris Home Page, Lynch commented: “I love the power words have to heal, encourage, entertain, and inspire. I love the thrill of a mystery and the ‘aha’ moment when I’ve learned something new.” Lynch is a member of the International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch). She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida and lives in Tampa with her husband.
In an homage to the classic mystery story, The Hotel Westend features a group of people collected by an unknown host to vacation at a secluded hotel on a seaside cliff in the town of Westend Bay. The guests include a boisterous millionaire, his new wife, the forbidding Mrs. Hartwell, her sister Marian, and other appropriately eccentric characters. They are told that they are all suspects in an unsolved murder that happened twenty years ago at this very hotel. One of the guests, Elsie Maitland, is a wanderer looking for adventure who happened upon the hotel on the same night as the others.
Before long history repeats itself, as a pastor is bludgeoned to death and the hotel’s maid is poisoned. As the guests question each other and wonder who can be next, a police sergeant sequesters them in the hotel, including Elsie. She decides to write to Frances, her famous mystery-writing sister, for help solving the case. Also investigating the recent deaths is a handsome journalist who catches Elsie’s eye. Self-described as clumsy yet curious, Elsie proves to be perceptive and possessed of a healthy dose of suspicion. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a contributor commented: “Lynch-Harris playfully indulges genre tropes, raising readers’ suspicions equally among multiple characters as Elsie plays sleuth.”
Online at Self-Publishing Reviews, John Staughton called the book a slow-boiling thriller in the style of Agatha Christie and other British suspense classics, despite some forced exposition in Elsie’s letters that comes across as simplistic. The back-and-forth letters are appropriate for the characters, said Staughton, but it presents the narrative a bit too plainly. Nevertheless, Staughton added: “Packed with red herrings and meticulously crafted suspense, this novel is a quick read—mainly because it will be difficult to put down.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, June 27, 2016, review of The Hotel Westend: A Mystery, p. 65.
ONLINE
Ashley Lynch-Harris Home Page, http://www.ashleylynchharris.com (April 12, 2017).
Self-Publishing Review, http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/ (August 11, 2016), John Staughton, review of The Hotel Westend.
Smashwords, https://www.smashwords.com/ (April 12, 2017), Ashley Lynch-Harris, overview of The Hotel Westend.
ASHLEY LYNCH-HARRIS, author of The Hotel Westend, writes present-day mysteries that are reminiscent of the Golden Age of detective fiction. Publishers Weekly has described her work as “a charming homage to the classic mystery…” She has a series of short stories slated for publication in the Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and is a member of the International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch). An honors graduate of the University of South Florida, Ashley lives in Tampa with her husband, Alex, and dog, Jo Jo.
Typewriter KeysWriting…
I love the power words have to heal, encourage, entertain, and inspire. I love the thrill of a mystery and the “aha” moment when I’ve learned something new. As I continue to grow as a person and a writer, I hope to make a powerful impact not only with my words, but my life as well.
I thank God for the wonderful family and friends He has placed beside me. My husband, Alex, and my parents, Dr. Barrington and Mrs. Janel Lynch, have been especially pivotal in encouraging me along the way. My brother, who is with the Lord now, has and always will be an inspiration to me. Finally, I also thank God for the trials I’ve gone through which have allowed me to gain the perspective, growth, and compassion that I would not have otherwise gained.
I appreciate you visiting my site, and I hope you will keep in touch! If you sign up to receive my bi-monthly newsletters, know that you can always email me back. I am just on the other side of the computer, and I would love to hear from you!
Ashley Lynch-Harris, author of The Hotel Westend, writes present-day mysteries that are reminiscent of the Golden Age of detective fiction. Publishers Weekly has described her work as “a charming homage to the classic mystery…” She has a series of short stories slated for publication in the Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and is a member of the International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch). An honors graduate of the University of South Florida, Ashley lives in Tampa with her husband, Alex, and dog, Jo Jo. For more information, please visit www.AshleyLynchHarris.com.
The Hotel Westend
Publishers Weekly.
263.26 (June 27, 2016): p65.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Hotel Westend
Ashley Lynch-Harris. Barrington House,. $22.99 (206p) ISBN 978-0-9965210-
0-0
In Lynch-Harris's first novel, a charming homage to the classic mystery, a secretive host summons a number of people to the Hotel Westend in the
town of Westend Bay in an unspecified U.S. state. An outlier among the guests is Elsie Maitland, whose meandering voyage in search of
adventure results in her unexpected stay at the hotel. The other guests, a pompous millionaire and his newlywed bride, and a grim Mrs. Iradene
Hartwell and her younger sister, Marian, are connected by a murder that occurred at the site of the hotel 20 years previous; all were considered
suspects at the time. After a maid is poisoned and a reverend also called to the hotel is murdered, it seems the past is replaying itself and a
sergeant sequesters the guests. Elsie excitedly consults with her famed mystery writer sister via letters and begins to conduct her own
investigation. Lynch-Harris playfully indulges genre tropes, raising readers' suspicions equally among multiple characters as Elsie plays sleuth
and finds romance with a journalist who has his own connection to the crimes. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Hotel Westend." Publishers Weekly, 27 June 2016, p. 65. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA456900908&it=r&asid=6027e5f7d257fe09fa2358f34dac09e6. Accessed 6 Mar.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A456900908
Review: The Hotel Westend by Ashley Lynch-Harris
John Staughton August 11, 2016 Book Reviews, Lead Story
★★★★ The Hotel Westend by Ashley Lynch-Harris
The Hotel Westend by Ashley Lynch-Harris is a classic mystery with plenty of twists.
With eccentric characters, an historic hotel with its fair share of secrets, and an innocent ingénue with a good dose of curiosity, The Hotel Westend is a slow-boiling thriller that will have you guessing until the very end. In the beloved style of Agatha Christie and other British suspense classics, this murder mystery pays homage to the genre in an impressive way.
The gradual introduction of the characters – all heading for the same destination for an unknown reason – has the same slow pacing as guests arriving on a stormy night for a mysterious dinner party. Elsie Maisland isn’t like the rest of the growing cast, however. She is simply there by chance, but her curiosity leads her into the tangled mess of the Hotel Westend. The hotel she stumbles upon has a murderous past, and the strange group of guests that have assembled there are all connected to it in some way. Elsie Maisland is intriguing from her first introduction; she is charming and clumsy, claiming to “always be losing things,” but she is also perceptive and suspicious. In other words, she is the perfect hero for this story, especially since her sister, a famed mystery writer, would likely be right at home in this odd hotel at the edge of the world.
As Elsie explains in a letter to Frances, her sister, “It seems like some sort of sick game is about to begin, Franny. The pieces have been positioned and now it’s just a matter of waiting on the first move.” As the “elite” guests take notice of who else has come to stay at Hotel Westend, it becomes clear that everyone is there for a very specific reason, and everyone is linked in some dark, buried way. The Hartwells, Mr. Turnbull, Mr. and Mrs. Welling, Mrs. Tidwell, James Rennick…all of these eccentric characters, possessing all the pomp and mystery of Professor Plum or Miss Scarlet, have their own agenda. Readers are unconsciously sent on their own adventure to determine what those goals are, eager to unravel the mystery before the author pulls back each successive curtain.
When a new murder occurs about a quarter of the way through the book, followed quickly by another, Elsie’s bizarre stay at the Hotel Westend becomes something far more sinister. Armed only with her wits and the inspiration of her sister, Elsie takes it on herself to find the killer before she becomes the next victim. Packed with red herrings and meticulously crafted suspense, this novel is a quick read – mainly because it will be difficult to put down.
At times, the writing itself leaves something to be desired, particularly with the forced exposition through Elsie’s letters. Although it is a useful trope for sharing background information, it comes across as slightly simplistic. The back-and-forth tag team of Elsie and her sister is appropriate, given the characters, but it tends to lay out the narrative a bit too plainly, occasionally providing an unwanted summary that makes readers feel a bit talked down to.
Overall, The Hotel Westend is well-edited, with very few mistakes, and while some of the dialogue feels a bit forced, given the style of book, it has the sparse, dramatic flair that readers expect from a solidly-crafted mystery. Elsie Maitland is an undeniably fun character to follow, and the time that Ashley Lynch-Harris put into designing each of these unique characters reveals her passion for the genre. There are a few bumps along the way, but there is great potential in this young heroine, and in this author’s work.