Enter the Nightmare

 

Enter the Nightmare (Harmony #18)- Jayne Castle

Berkley

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Release Date: June 30, 20206

Synopsis: Alice Radstone should have known not to return. Her life before the Hotel of Dreams had been one of a perfectly cloistered teacher at the Ballantine Academy. When the death of her mentor forced her out, she was left to reinvent herself in the big city. Since then, things have not gone well. Ten months ago, after her first trip to the hotel, she woke up in the locked ward of a hospital for the criminally insane and was informed that she had murdered her husband on their wedding night. She has no memory of the husband or the wedding, but after she escapes from the asylum, one thing is certain: She is never going back.

Unfortunately, Alice’s second reinvented life is also deteriorating rapidly, which is why she finds herself once more at the Hotel of Dreams—this time hiding in the shadows of her room with a dead body in the shower and two men wearing masks creeping toward the bed to kidnap her. Again.

When the enigmatic and decidedly dangerous Owen March shows up and claims he’s there to rescue her, she has no choice but to accept his offer—and hope that he doesn’t also intend to kidnap her. 

With Alice and now Owen in the killer’s sights, time is running out. They must trust each other and the electric passion between them if they are to make it out of this hotel alive.

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Alice Radstone and Owen March are the human main characters of Jayne Castle's latest Harmony book, with Sebastian the dust bunny along for the ride. Alice has had a rough year: a quick marriage to someone she barely remembers, a wedding night that ended with her suposedly killing the groom, three months locked in an institution, and seven months on the run with Sebastian. Only the lure of proof of her innocence could get her back to the Hotel of Dreams (even knowing it was probably a trap). One dead guy in the bathroom and a kidnapping attempt later and she's on the run again, this time with Owen March who claims he wants to help her. She and Sebastian are out of options so she takes his help. The plot thickens to include powerful families out for money and revenge, more kidnapping attempts, murder and attempted murders. Plus a dust bunny who loves shiny things in a casino. What could possibly go wrong?

I enjoyed Alice and Owen and their developing relationship. Alice isn't as naive as everyone assumes she is and Owen has a knack for putting his foot in his mouth, which lead to some fun conversations in Quick's usual witty banter. Sebastian steals the show in this one with his antics in the casino. The Hotel of Dreams came a close second though, as the kind of nightmare place you never want to visit. The hotel gives the ending a bit more suspense than a traditional Jayne Castle ending, and a definite yikes! factor, but it's a nightmare worth reading about- though I wouldn't want to spend the night there. And most visitors probably don't live long enough to write a review of the place. Probably for the best. 

Fast-paced and good chemistry between Owen and Alice, Enter the Nightmare is a fun addition to the Harmony world. Fans will enjoy and those new to the series shouldn't have trouble jumping into this delightful paranormal world.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Butler

 The Butler- Claire Mackintosh

Podium Publishing

Release Date: June 16, 2026

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: The South of France is stunning, though not without its imperfections, from pickpockets to burglars to the occasional cold-blooded killer. But in his twenty-five years of service, Baxter—with a spotless reputation as a polished, well-mannered butler—has never run into any issues catering to the ultrawealthy. Until now.

Baxter's latest assignment is at Villa Sérénité, where Alec Prescott is hosting a colorful cast of characters, including his ex-wife, his much younger lady friend, and some Hollywood hotshots, after the Cannes Film Festival. But it doesn't take long for a week of sun, wine, and a family birthday celebration to devolve into bickering and backstabbing. And soon, secrets aren't the only thing floating to the surface . . .

When one of the guests is found dead in the villa's glittering pool, the unflappable Baxter must assist the gendarmes in determining who's responsible. With some standing to gain and others motivated to take it away, fingers are pointed in all directions. A good butler is expected to see everything and say nothing—but what if he too becomes a target?

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Baxter is the perfect butler: professional demeanor, thinks of everything ahead of time, lets nothing phase him. He's been hired to buttle for a home in Cannes over the film fest, where wealthy Alec Prescott is hosting film friends and family to celebrate his son's birthday. But more than a few hours into the weeklong party and backstabbing and old feuds emerge. When someone winds up dead in the pool, it isn't a huge surprise but it is inconvenient. All three of the staff are sheduled for other jobs soon and can't afford to hang around while the cops think about solving things. With the help of a local pickpocket called Red they decide to take matters into their own hands and solve the crime. Which puts Baxter on top of the killer's target list.

The Butler  is the first book by Claire Macintosh I've read, but as someone writing a nonfiction book about butlers in mystery novels, how could I pass this up? It was a fun, quick read, almost a cozy mystery with wonderful descriptions of food, locations, views, etc. The end of the book definitely left open the possibilty for more to come, which would be great. Macintosh revealed tiny glimpses of Baxter's past and personality behind his professional facade in a slow-drip way that would suit a series, getting a little more in each book.

Each of the guests is suitably unlikable without the feeling that they all needed to go to jail and by the time we have a dead body we also have plenty of motives. I enjoyed how the staff all decided they were not sitting around for the police to slowly handle things: they all had places to be and other jobs to be getting on with, and would just deal with this themselves, thank you very much. And they do. The end "living room reveal" scene didn't feel very Baxter-like, but I think it hit about every cliche it could manage in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way.

This is a good examply of a book that didn't need a prologue. The writing for the prologue was so over the top just to get to the expected body in the pool I almost put the book down, because there was no way I could have read the book if the writing was like that the whole way through. Fortunately, it wasn't. I recommend skipping those few pages, or just know they don't reflect the book as a whole.

A fun summer mystery. I hope for more Baxter in the future.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review