Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3)

Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3)
Belle Ruin - Emma Graham, Bk 3
Author: Martha Grimes
The Market's bargain prices are even better for Paperbackswap club members!
Retail Price: $16.00
Buy New (Paperback): $12.79 (save 20%) or
Become a PBS member and pay $8.89+1 PBS book credit Help icon(save 44%)
ISBN-13: 9780451219442
ISBN-10: 0451219449
Publication Date: 9/5/2006
Pages: 384
Edition: Reprint
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 33

3.6 stars, based on 33 ratings
Publisher: NAL Trade
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

7 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3) on + 32 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This is the story of 12-year-old Emma Graham, who is the waitress at her mother's decaying resort hotel. She's always looking to solve mysteries, and sometimes invents clues in her eagerness, but when she comes upon a crumbling shell of another hotel--a fabulous, once-ritzy hotel--hidden in the woods near her little town of Spirit Lake, she has beaucoups of REAL mysteries to solve. One is a crime committed 40 years ago, and some are family secrets that others would prefer left unearthed--so to speak!

Emma is a spunky girl, and she has a difficult life, but she "rises above", as we say in the South, with help from her varied friends around the hotel and in her town.
The ending is a great surprise--both 'great' as in 'huge', and 'great' as in 'terrific'. :>)
reviewed Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3) on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Grimes' writing takes you right there. You feel like you're right there with the main characters. It was fun to hunt for the truth with the main character.
suzibrooke avatar reviewed Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3) on + 20 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Another mystery involving preteen Emma. This character is delightful, as she navigates her unusual world, waitressing in a rundown hotel, carrying on her rivalry with her annoying pseudo step-sister, and making friends with interesting people all over the county.
This book, though , was somewhat disappointing, as at the end we were still wondering about the mystery and I thought it would be solved by the end.

I love Grimes' writing, and following Emma on her peregrinations, so I will wait for the next installment.
reviewed Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3) on + 347 more book reviews
I'd like to see more in this series, but the ending of this book would work for me as a trilogy should there be no more. Emma lets slip that Lola Davidow took her out to lunch at the fancy Silver Pear restaurant as a friendly gesture, so she's been, at least in part, an unreliable narrator. The lack of backstory regarding events before "Hotel Paradise" began remains frustrating. I'm not sure Grimes herself is certain of exactly where and when the events are set? At one point (in "Cold Flat Junction" I think it was), Hawaii and Alaska have been states for close to 10 years; in this one, Lola is an avid fan of "The Loretta Young Show". It's supposed to be in the South, but they're a day's drive north of the Blue Ridge mountains, so at best MD or PA? I still see them in upstate New York in the 1950's myself.
reviewed Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3) on
Book, like most of Ms. Grimes writing, is superlative!
reviewed Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3) on + 192 more book reviews
Another good story.
reviewed Belle Ruin (Emma Graham, Bk 3) on + 7 more book reviews
excellent condition; given to me as a gift; Not the type of books i care for. But suppose to be good as a small town book type. Larger type paperback. Enjoy