Quick, light book with an interesting premise. Evelyn Murphy, a fabulously wealthy young woman, lives in grandeur at the Pinnacle Hotel, which her father owns.. She is a lover of Agatha Christie novels, all things pink, Marilyn Monroe, and fashion. She also believes she has the ability to find lost things. Readers are introduced to her as she prepares to attend an art exhibition at the hotel along with her "fake boyfriend" Henry Fox. At the exhibition, a painting is stolen and Evelyn is determined to discover the culprit. Before long, the artist himself is murdered and a trusted member of the staff has been arrested. There is a large range of characters, including Evelyn's true love interest Mac Cooper, an employee, and her dog, Presley, who goes everywhere with her.

The was a fun book to read, but while the book synopsis mentions Evelyn's agoraphobia, the reader doesn't learn about it until 2/3 into the book. I would have liked to know that about her earlier. I also noticed quite a few errors in word choice that would not be appropriate for the 1950s and to me were jarring. For example, Evelyn refers to sunscreen and pantyhose. I also wanted more depth to Evelyn and growth in her character; that she will develop her own personality. Hopefully that will happen in subsequent books.

Poor little rich girl Evelyn Murphy, the daughter of the fabulously wealthy owner of the fabled Pinnacle Hotel, lives on the top floor of Daddy’s hotel. Beautiful and willful, Evelyn dyes her hair platinum blonde and dresses Marilyn Monroe. Like her idol, Evelyn frequently faces men who underestimate her, seeing her as spoiled and nosy. Well, in fairness, Evelyn is nosy — but always in a good cause. Compassionate and generous to a fault, Evelyn finds missing items for the hotel’s guests, foils an insurance scam, and determines to find out who really did kill a self-important modern artist having a show at the Pinnacle.

S.K. Golden’s debut The Socialite’s Guide to Murder, set in 1958, easily combines fun, a riveting plot, and a clever, if scarred, protagonist you’ll find yourself adoring. I’m so glad to know that this page-turner is the first in a series. Highly recommended.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

This has great characters, and it's told with an appealing style. I stayed engaged, and I look forward to the author's next book. Recommended.

Thank you for the free ARC for review!!

Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy lives in the Pinnacle, which is the best hotel in New York and owned by her father. She is rich (and spoiled), beautiful (and vain about it), smart (or she hopes she is) and has the self-proclaimed superpower of finding lost and hidden things. When a painting is stolen and a murder is discovered (in her home!!), she takes it upon herself to solve the mystery.

The mystery story mostly takes place in the Pinnacle because Evelyn suffers from agoraphobia. In her case leaving the comfort and safety of her home. I loved this solution to keep the story in one place, but sometimes it felt more like a convenience than the actual condition that it is. Some situations were handled beautifully. However, in some I was waiting for her reactions to kick in and they never did. And it bothered me because that's not how anxiety disorders work.

What I liked a lot about the book was the writing style. It transported you right back to the 1950s and created a believable and incredible atmosphere. Right down to Evelyn's admiration about Marilyn Monroe, thinking about how she should dress and how she wants to appear to others, which I have the impression of being a bit of a stereotype for that era.
And even though it got on my nerves how many times she mentioned that she would talk to her daddy or call him about something, I understood that it was part of her character (Presley made up for it, he's just the goodest boy!! Not to mention Evelyn's loyalty to her dearest friend Henry Fox, with whom she agreed to be in a pretend-relationship with).
Also, Amelia and Poppy are kick-ass!!! Poppy should have been introduced much sooner in the story!
Oh, and of course there is a big reveal at the end. How else would the story go and don't expect anything less!

Although I had some personal issues with the book, I would really recommend reading it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC. It's 1958 and Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy lives at her Father's hotel, the Pinnacle. She has agoraphobia and hasn't left the hotel, her home, in 14 months. Evelyn is best friends with a movie star who attends events with her. During such an event, to honor artist Billie Bell, his newest painting that was to be revealed is stolen. The police are investigating the theft when just days afterwards, the artist is found murdered in the hallway.

Evelyn lives a rather secluded, charmed life. She's rich, gorgeous and sweet. She's also good at finding things. She decides to assist the detective in finding the thief and murder. This requires stealth and brains, which many of the employees and guests at the hotel think she lacks. Because she is coddled and seems silly and vapid. But boy, does Evelyn prove them wrong. This was a light, delightful read. I adore Evelyn and her friends and hope and can't wait to read more.

Socialites Guide to Murder
By: S.K. Golden

🅡︎🅔︎🅥︎🅘︎🅔︎🅦︎
This was the cutest cozy mystery with a side of a love story! The story is told from Evelyn's POV. I thought Evelyn quarky and sometimes naive in a likeable way. She is an heiress to her fathers hotel fortune in the 1950s after all. She has a bit of agoraphobia.  I like how the author talked about what happened when she left the hotel. I don't want to give away any details so I'll stop here.

I giggled to myself multiple times while reading this book. This is the type of book you cuddle up under your favorite blanket with a cup of tea on a rainy day. It's an easy light read appropriate for all audiences.

Pub Date 10/11/2022
Thank you to the author and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC!!

Evelyn is a hotel heiress with a teeny tiny bit of agoraphobia. Her boundaries are pushed when there is not only the theft of a priceless piece of art but a murder in her hotel. Can she solve the mystery and make her hotel her safe place again?

So this a fun little murder mystery set in 1950s New York. Evelyn is incredibly wealthy and also unaware of some of her quirks. She isn’t always the most likable, but, she grows on you throughout the book. She is surrounded by a fun group of supporting characters including her dog Presley. Overall this was a quick and enjoyable read. Fans of The Maid will likely enjoy this one as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫; 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲.
🔪
"𝐌𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥. "
🔪
The year is 1958 and Miss Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy, reader of Agatha Christie, finder of things, lives in the ultra posh New York City hotel, The Pinnacle; which is owned by her father, whom she refers to as “Daddy”. She spends her days at the rooftop pool, the hotel restaurant, the salon, admiring her vast clothing wardrobe, and perfecting her Miss Marple persona.
🔪
Evelyn is wealthy, spoiled, materialistic, snobby, and yet, is entirely endearing - perhaps because, among other reasons, she discovered her mother’s murdered body left in the alleyway outside the hotel - when she was six years old. She is agoraphobic, as a result of this childhood trauma - bad things happen out there.
🔪
She has four friends: her gay fake boyfriend (the movie star), the bell hop (her crush), a little girl she meets in the hotel, and perhaps her very best friend is the adorably lovable Presley, her tiny pocket dog who accompanies her everywhere.
🔪
Evelyn is on a mission to solve a murder mystery, in true Miss Marple fashion, and she is a marvel! Absolutely do not miss this one if you love Agatha Christie, posh historic settings, and delightful cozy mysteries.

My gratitude to NetGalley, S.K. Golden, and Crooked Lane books for the opportunity to read this delightful ARC in exchange for my honest and wholly independent review.

This cozy historical mystery had lots of sparkle and wit. The main character, Evelyn, is rich and beautiful with a bubbly personality, but her borrowed-from-Marilyn-Monroe persona hides anxieties and sadness. I love the way the author balanced Evelyn's love for fashion, her privilege, and her dramatic love life with some real depth. There are not one but two crimes to solve here, and the clues and reveals are fun and well-paced. This novel is perfect for readers who: prefer no grit and gore, love stories set in hotels, are Marilyn fans, love fashion, are dog lovers, like a feisty and feminine heroine.

This would have been an excellent young adult mystery book. But as an adult book, it was born and flat. I literally guessed who did it from the beginning, and the journey to finding the correct answer was juvenile.

I really think that this book would have been so cute as a teenage girl, that has agoraphobia spends all her time shopping and exploring mysteries to take her mind off her condition. It would also be cute for her to have a crush on the bell boy in training, who is around her age but she can't act on it since her dad has her in an arranged marriage with her childhood friend, since he wants to make sure that his little girl would be well-taken care off as she gets older. The more I read the book, the more I found it would have worked as a young adult mystery.

But instead, we get this.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this ARC! I really enjoyed this lighthearted murder mystery! I loved the main character, Evelyn Murphy- she was super quirky, yet lovable. I would love if the author would continue with these characters in future books. I will definitely be recommending it to friends when it’s released!

I absolutely loved this story! Evelyn was such a fun character to be inside her head. Her evolution throughout the story to becoming more aware of herself was great growth to see in a character that I did not expect to see. I really enjoyed trying to figure out who the murderer was, as my theory kept shifting with each passing chapter. Each character at the Pinnacle was well developed and intrigued me at each turn. I truly hope that this becomes a series, as the journeys of Evelyn, Mac, and Presley would make for such a great series!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book! Its easy to give up on a book with a spoiled rich girl but the murder mystery helped get past that for me and in the plot. I had so much fun guessing the ending, and this was a very light read. I'll read it again!

A nice light read with deep overtones.
Evelyn Murphy lives in her suite on the 21st floor of her father's hotel, the Pinnacle. She has her little dog, Presley, a pool, restaurants, and shopping on site, so why would she ever leave?
When an art theft occurs at a reception for the reveal of a hot artist's new works, she is trying to figure out just how the impossible could have happened. Then she (literally) stumbles over the artist's dead body. With her friends suspects and the hotel's reputation in danger, she uses her intimate knowledge of the hotel to find out the culprit. As she does, she has to confront her own past and actually admit she has agoraphobia.
She is incredibly brave as she tries to leave the hotel for the first time in over a year. She makes new friends and learns new things about her old ones. She goes from "spoiled little rich girl" with a tragedy in her past to a woman taking baby steps on the road to recovery.

A good murder mystery will always keep me in my reading chair and The Socialite's Guide to Murder did not disappoint! The setting was vivid and immersive and the plot fed me just enough clues in each chapter to keep reading. By the end of the book, I cared for and was cheering for the main character, Evelyn, but it took at least the first third of the book to get there. I wish her back story and motivations had been revealed a little sooner, but I was very glad that her character was eventually given the depth I was hoping for. And the most important part of a mystery - I didn't guess the ending! This was a solid, 3.5 star, fun, "beach read" for me.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for this ARC through NetGalley!

Rarely do I read a book where I don’t care for the protagonist. Sure, I might not like a character or two, but often that’s written with that being the intention. And often, it’s just the story line itself that I don’t like. However, this is one of those rare instances where the protagonist is just not likable for me.

While the mystery was well thought out, Evelyn Elisabeth Grace Murphy was a huge miss for me. She’s a diva, entitled and quite frankly, a snob. I find her too unlikable to want to read another in this series.

"My outfit needed to be dramatic. It wasn't every day a girl got to reveal a murder plot to her friends and colleagues, after all."

It's time for an adventure with the fabulous Evelyn Murphy in the Pinnacle hotel, owned by her father. Evelyn has all the tools in her socialite toolbox to be a confident it girl, but childhood trauma causes her to be a bit agoraphobic. A murder takes place right at the Pinnacle - just like in the murder mysteries that Evelyn devours. She can hardly help herself and brings bell boy sidekick along for the journey - and let me just say you will not be disappointed.

This fast paced book was A LOT of fun. I really LOVED Evelyn. She's a snobby, materialistic, brat - she's an adult who still refers to her father as "Daddy." I love her as a character so much - we have these moments where we truly get a peek into the vulnerability and what makes Evelyn tick. I love the glamour - the detailed scenes of putting on make up or an extravagant outfit. She's hard to relate to, but relatable at the same time -- like for example there's a scene where she's in a hospital and she's complaining that she has to share a room with another patient... we would all be annoyed we didn't have the room to ourselves, but the entitlement that Evelyn has is actually a bit charming. I live for the outlandish statements she makes throughout the book.

I loved when books have well-written animal characters. Presley does not disappoint, and he plays SUCH a big role in this book - even as the book comes to a close we are really shown how much we value him as a character.

My least favorite part of this book was unfortunately the romance. I wasn't really digging in, I'm not gonna lie. I was not the biggest fan of the way she seemed a bit desperate and hopeless in love. It was just a bit too corny/cheesy for me, but some people are into that kind of thing so have at it. They're a fine pair, it's just not my style of romance.

Thank you SOOO much to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC. I love love loved consuming this literature, it was such a fun read that I would absolutely recommend to those who enjoy murder mysteries and a glamorous historical piece.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC. This was an enjoyable historical murder mystery. Evelyn seems like your average spoiled heiress living in her father’s hotel, and in some ways she is, but there’s a lot more to her than meets the eye. She has agoraphobia and anxiety from finding her mother’s dead body when she was young, but she’s also very clever and knows how to use peoples’ perceptions of her to her advantage. When there’s a robbery/murder at the hotel, she takes matters into her own hands to figure out who did it.

This was a very fast paced easy read and it kept my interest the whole time. I really enjoyed following Evelyn and her dog Presley around the hotel looking for clues and following leads. It also has an eccentric cast of characters and a cute romance. That being said, I would rate this 4 stars because there wasn’t really anything groundbreaking about it and the big reveal was fine but not overly shocking. I would recommend this if you’re looking for something fun and light.

A homage to Agatha Christie Mysteries & 1950's glamour girls, "The Socialite's Guide to Murder" by S.K. Golden embodies a fun, flirty murder mystery. Evelyn, our overtly confident make-shift detective, floats around her daddy's glitzy hotel--seizing the opportunity to prove herself as more than just a pretty face. Evelyn pushes the boundaries of gender-roles, class ranking, & her own tragic past.

Personally, I enjoyed many aspects of this fast-paced 1950s murder mystery. Evelyn's hilarious banter, adorable dog, & Marilyn Monroe style made her a sometimes exasperating but overall lovable heroine. Initially, I questioned the depth of the supporting characters--but their incentives were cleverly hidden until the very end. As a huge Agatha Christie fan myself, Evelyn's emulation of Hercule Piorot was hysterical & culturally appropriate. While the mystery itself was relatively simple, the character's emotional motives were complex & historically accurate with the 1950s rigid sexuality, gender, race, and class roles.

Overall, Golden brings a fresh perspective on murder mysteries with Evelyn's glamorous New York City life. I'd recommend this quick read for anyone fans of historical fiction or Agatha Christie.

A historical cozy mystery with a quirky main character. This book takes place in a glamorous hotel in the 1950s, where our heroine has lived her whole life. She’s 21. She likes dressing up like Marilyn Monroe and fixing problems with her guests (maybe a little judgementally). She has a romance with a bellhop and a fake romance with her gay best friend. She discovers the murder and because of her cool composure (maybe neuro divergence?) she is a suspect. This is a cute fast paced cozy. I wish there was more historical set dressing, but i really enjoyed it.