Did You See Melody? Sophie Hannah
Did You See Melody
Author: Sophie Hannah
Paperback 327 pages
Publication Date: August 24th 2017
ISBN: 9781444776171
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton
Publishers Summary:
Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied - by a man and a teenage girl.
A simple mistake on the part of the hotel receptionist - but Cara's fear intensifies when she works out that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving life sentences for her murder.
Cara doesn't know what to trust: everything she's read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?
Review
It was the tantalising blurb which attracted me to this book and I was looking forward to enjoying an interesting mystery.
Cara is fed up with her husband and two teenagers, she is middle-aged and unexpectedly pregnant and wants to get away from them all, so she decides to fly off to spend a couple of weeks (and a small fortune) at a luxurious spa in Arizona.
The plot then evolves from a series of rather odd coincidences. First, she is sent to the wrong room which is already occupied by a man and a young girl.
Later, at the reception desk, she overhears a woman named Mrs. McNair loudly demanding that the police be called as she has seen a girl named Melody who was presumed murdered seven years earlier.
Cara is intrigued and decides to do a bit of sleuthing during which she comes across a photo of seven year old Melody. Despite the time lapse she is immediately convinced that the teenaged girl she saw in the room and the child in the photo really are the same girl.
She teams up with another guest, Tarin, who has her daughter Zellie with her.
Another major character makes an appearance, one Bonnie Juno who, on her TV show “Justice with Bonnie” featured the disappearance of the child Melody, Bonnies relentless trial by television seemed to convince everyone that Melodys' parents killed her and they were imprisoned for her murder.
There is a huge amount of back story which I found interrupted the flow, however, we finally get to the end of this story via denouement after denouement.
For me, I am sorry to say it was all a bit too unbelievable to be a serious mystery. Yet though it was a little comedic in parts it was not enough to lift the story to an actual comedy.
Having said all that, I did love the character of Tarin and would love to see her starring in her very own cozy mystery!
Copy provided by Hachette Australia for an honest review
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