This was a really fast-paced story, which I loved! I felt like we jumped right into the plot and never slowed down! Set in a creepy (and haunted) old hotel, this one has a spine-tingling location that sets the mood of the whole story!

Mave, our MC, is at this hotel, and then a snowstorm hits…and then someone is found dead, and BAM, we’ve got a locked-room mystery in store for us!

I was really into this story because the author’s ability to drive the story forward and slow down to give details was fantastic. I loved the descriptions of the dilapidated hotel and the character information. It was just enough so that I knew who the people were, but I was never bogged down with too much backstory.

Mave was a great leading lady for this mystery. Her father is serving time in prison as a hitman, so she’s uniquely qualified to help solve this murder. I loved her character. She was full of strength and spunk!

I would definitely recommend this one to any reader that enjoys a murder mystery!

What a wild ride! There was a lot packed into a relatively short book.
The writing was great and very fast paced. It kept me hooked from the very beginning. It's definitely quite plot centered which was fun though I often prefer more character development.

Very unpredictable with twists every step of the way! Quite an enjoyable read.

Thank you to netgalley and suzy approved book tours for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A debut thriller set in a rundown, haunted hotel at a former luxury ski resort? Count me in! ✔️

Part one takes us right into the center of the book’s main drama and mystery, and also taught us a lot about Mave, her special gifts, and her overall character. Not many people can say they are the daughter of a Hitman, so I really enjoyed getting these glimpses into her past as she recounts some of her memories growing up.

Early on, some parts were a little confusing for me and I did have to go back and reread certain chapters to make sure I was understanding the plot correctly. Not entirely sure if it was just me, or the jumping from different characters and past to present timelines- which is typically a huge hit for me in any book!

About mid way through the book it all clicked for me and WOW!! I loved how pieces of the puzzle started to fit together, and needed to know how Mave was going to clear her name while being framed for Birdie’s murder. Could and should she even trust Holden?!?

By the end of the book I was extremely pleased with how most things were resolved, and truly loved how this thrilling mystery came to a finish. Definitely check this one out if you’re a fan of books with lots of family drama and secrets or locked room mysteries!

I think it's a great book for the right reader. Unfortunately, I had a hard time connecting to the protagonist and decided not to finish the ARC. That said, I think it's the case of a wrong reader and not a disappointing book. I encourage readers looking for fast-paced thrillers with supernatural elements and supernatural twists to give it a try.

**Possible spoilers ahead**

This is not my usual selection. I'll be honest, the cover drew me in first, and the title was just intriguing enough for me to check out the summary. I figured it was going to be something very pulpy, but the description promised something more akin to gothic, which I love. Of course, it also promised murder and mayhem, and sometimes a girl just needs a little of both. If you're looking for strong female protagonists, a bit of murder and mayhem, and a gothic setting complete with abandoned underground tunnels, check this out.

While there are some pacing issues and maybe one too many plot twists/extensions, and while there is a very obvious little romance brewing in the midst of trying to clear one's name from murder, there's also a very cool atmosphere. And for me, that atmosphere, coupled with a very capable female protagonist, rises this book above mere pulp fiction for me.

The hotel that the novel is set is brings the dilapidated charm. There is a haunted quality to the setting, not only because it is, in fact, actually haunted. I also appreciate that Topdjian went for it and included an actual ghost. I think many authors toy with the idea but don't go far enough. This setting and this premise was the perfect excuse to really go for it. And the ghost in THD added to the mystery of the plot.

The plot, while at times paced poorly, also sped along in just the right places. I found myself reading longer and later because of how Topdjian pulls the reader along, dropping just enough at the end of this chapter to make you want to read on to the next to see where that hint or clue is going. I think some of the plot points could have been cleaned up a bit, or explained a bit more, or simply not been alluded to being important for the sake of the story. I'm still unclear where Holden and the whole ghost of dead poets and his underground lair fit in. Maybe thats the point. Is there a sequel planned? maybe thats why. But his whole subplot, existence, romance with Mave, disappearing, appearing, and disappearing again, made less and less sense as the story went on. The reveal that he was working with Mave's incarcerated father actually underscored this. Maybe Topdjian liked what she started with Holden and then didn't know where to go with that thread. Whatever the reason, we're left with more questions than answers on that front.

I also enjoyed that Mave, while extremely resourceful, was fallible. She made many mistakes and I'm glad for that. She's set up as a very capable, very independent person who has a hitman for a father and teacher and she could have very easily worn that all as plot armor. But she didn't. And i love that choice.

My only other gripe is with the dialogue. Dialogue is difficult to write, but in some places it felt... not juvenile, but not polished. Lots of starts and stops and mid-sentence sighs and it was just a bit of a peeve of mine, but it does little to hinder the story. Just wish it had been a little more polished. It could also be a result of the uncorrected eGalley i read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this suspenseful and original novel, The Hitman's Daughter. Carolyne Topdjian has crafted a thriller that will keep you up all night.

Mave is the daughter of a convicted hitman whose voice always resonates in her mind, guiding her through the difficult obstacles that life throws her way. When she finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation at the hotel where she recently started working, she needs more help than just her imprisoned father's words. Finding allies in unlikely places - and enemies seemingly emerging from every direction - Mave is forced to rely on her own strength and wisdom to prove her innocence.

The Hitman's Daughter has a colorful, unforgettable cast of characters and an element of the supernatural that makes it intriguing and unputdownable.

I feel as though the author of this book had a handful of different ideas and wanted to smash them all into one book. I really liked it in the beginning. The mystery seemed fun and I liked that Mave was trying to prove herself different from her family. Towards the end there were a few aspects that I didn’t really feel added to the story and made it a little weird though.

Thanks to #NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A twisty murder mystery with secrets in a remote haunted hotel - yes please! It took me a little while to get into the story, but I did find it picked up the pace and had some excellent reveals and secrets throughout.

This isolated, closed circle mystery/thriller takes place in the Château du Ciel - a once luxurious hotel and ski destination that has declined in recent years and is rumored to be haunted. A New Year's Eve party was supposed to revitalize the hotel until a massive blizzard traps the guests and staff inside. We're following one of the hotel staff - Mave Michaels - when she finds another staff member dead. She panics and, in her shock, thinks she sees someone else in the dark room. However, when they review the security footage, no one else was seen entering or exiting the room - making Mave the prime suspect. Mave insists she's innocent, but when the truth is revealed that Mave is the daughter of a notorious contract killer, everyone is quick to assume that Mave takes after her father. The clock is ticking for Mave to figure out who the real killer is before the storm clears and everyone leaves the hotel.

TW/CW: sexual assault

This book felt like 3 different books all smushed together and each part is handled to different levels of success. It is an isolated murder mystery, a gothic haunted house horror, and an action movie all rolled up together. Each of these parts had their own moment to shine in the book, but overall I thought they made the book feel really scattered and inconsistent. However, I may be in the minority on this one because the early reviews I scanned through on Goodreads all point out how fun and fast-paced the book was. Of course, I'm reading an ARC copy so there's a chance some of this might change in the finished copy but I don't think it would change enough for me to really change my mind. My main issue is that the action-movie aspects were so downplayed and almost non-existent that I honestly questioned why they were included at all.

With a title like 'The Hitman's Daughter' and the line in the description about how her father trained her in survival tactics made me think this would be similar to the movie You're Next where the protagonist has a secret past that makes her way more of a threat than the bad guys initially thought. However, that was not the case. At least, that wasn't the case until Mave was cornered by someone and needed to fight her way out. Then she would have this automatic switch where she was suddenly great at hand to hand combat and she'd get away from whoever it was. I really thought, based on the wording, that she would have all these secret skills or at least be somewhat skilled in ways that we wouldn't expect. However, Mave relies so heavily on other people to help her escape, hide, and sneak around that I really became skeptical about how much 'training' she got from her dad. I basically didn't really see any actual reasons why her dad had to be a hitman other than the really convenient plot reasons that come in toward the ending. I did really like the addition of having Mave hear her father's voice when she was close to giving up and having the voice sort of talk her through the situation with lines about calming her breathing and remembering that no one does anything for free. But none of the advice was particularly hitman-centered so it very well could have been just normal dad advice. I just think for the hitman part to be so central to the plot and the title of the book, I wanted it to be much more integral.

I did really enjoy the gothic horror aspects we got but, again, they were way under utilized until the ending. I wanted this hotel to be full-on haunted with the cold spots and the weird sounds and the whole floor being closed off because of some mysterious issue with the electricity. One character says that of course there are rumors it is haunted - it is a big hotel, they're all haunted. But we never really see any more about those rumors until later in the book. Maybe this isn't fair, but when you tell me a big hotel in the snowy mountains is haunted - I'm 1000% thinking of The Shining. All that being said, I did like the vibes we get from this being an old hotel and how much of the 'underbelly' we see following Mave's investigation. I did find the creepy gothic vibes not really consistent throughout the book and I think having a more consistent tone would have really elevated the story for me. It was like the tone was creepy when it needed to be but otherwise the gothic-factor just wasn't there. We really went full gothic horror with the ending which I loved but, again, didn't feel like the foundation of the story was built up enough to really 'earn' the amount of payoff we got.

Where this book did shine, for me, was with the murder mystery. It had a very Knives Out feeling to it where all of these eccentric rich people are together and they all have their own secrets that may or may not be related to the murder that happened. We also get these letters back and forth between two characters 30 years prior to the events in the book. Initially, we aren't completely certain how these letters work within the current investigation but we do get the connection by the end. I liked how short the letters were so we did get back to the main action-plot quickly. Also, they gave the reader some backstory that Mave didn't know at the time which made it fun to guess how these two timelines would come together. I liked the way the investigation played out as well as the final reveals and twists. I wouldn't say the reveals were anything too out of the ordinary but I did really like the way they all came together at the end.

This read like a very plot-forward book, so the character development was a bit lacking for my personal preferences. There is a pretty wide cast of characters but they can really all be summed up by their titles (the maid, the concierge, the son in law, etc) and they just didn't have much depth to them at all. Even Mave was a bit bland mostly because of the conflicting backstory/actions that I've already touched on. The main plot takes place over 36ish hours so it was understandable that there wasn't really much character development in the book so I was glad we got the epilogue from 1 year later so we were able to see how some of the characters turned out after the events of the book.

Overall, this was a pretty solid isolated murder mystery but there was too much other stuff going on that really detracted from my enjoyment. I think each plot branch was interesting at times but it was just too much all at once for me. However, like I mentioned in the beginning, other early reviews are overwhelmingly positive so this might just be a me-issue.

Thanks NetGalley and Polis Books for the ARC

Expected publication is February 22, 2022

I was confused by this book. It has a great premise/cover/marketing strategy, so I was excited to read it, but it failed to hook me. I didn't care what happened to the protagonist, I didn't feel like I knew her at all. There was a lot of action without much interiority/emotion/character development, and I just couldn't get into it.

3.75 stars

A woman with a special talent for finding things gets a job at a historic and prominent hotel in Colorado, but her past is permanently looming over her. She tries to outrun it, but everything always catches up, and her past is brought out from the dark when she is found over a dead body covered in the victim’s blood. She has to work to exonerate herself, but must contend with the snow storm that’s trapped them all inside until further notice, everyone believing she’s committed the crime, and her father serving several life sentences for his crimes as a hitman and the reputation that brings her.

I enjoyed this gothic thriller. It has several twists, was fast paced, and kept me reading to find out what happened. I think the dramatic, and sometimes goofy elements of a gothic story were played up too much because at times it was too much and bordered on too cheesy. The romance storyline between Mave and Holden especially was dramatic and a little too silly at times. It wasn’t necessary to the plot in my opinion. I did like both the characters, though. Mave was a good main and I enjoyed reading through her POV, but she did do several not so smart things throughout the book; especially for a character that spent her whole life learning how to survive these types of situations. The thing that really kept me reading the book was the mystery. That part was really well written, and well done. The mystery was so atmospheric and gothic, but updated to a more modern version. Overall an enjoyable read.

Release date: Feb 22, 2022

*thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I love almost all genres of fiction, but I do not easily dip my toe into gothic thrillers. Once I start, I cannot stop until I get to the end and this is not good when you start each day at the crack of dawn so thank you very much, Ms. Topdjian, for the bags under my eyes.

We have all the elements of a classic thriller here. We’ve got a haunted luxury hotel, a fancy New Year’s Eve party, a beautiful young woman on the run and a murder.
But folks, there’s more.

There are secret babies, a hitman, a ghost, the dark web, and then there is Mave Michael, our heroine. She has an uncanny ability to find lost objects and some pretty impressive survival skills. It sounds over the top, but the author has made this all remain believable and at the same time so fascinating it is unputdownable (I know that is not a word leave me be.)

The story is wild and fast paced but very skillfully wrought. Topdjian does an excellent job of balancing the gothic horror piece with the thriller with her terrific sense of pacing contributing to this balancing act. She even delivers a little bit of romance – just what I always want in a novel.

I am terrible at summarizing suspense plots without giving anything away so I’m not going to do that here. What I will say is that the heroine is well-developed and very compelling and the story works on multiple levels.

Fast paced, thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the ENTIRE TIME. I stayed up until 4 a.m. reading this. I could not put it down.

Set during New Years Eve in a haunted hotel, Mave checks into the hotel....when it loses power and it's resident artists is found dead. Mave is quickly accused of being the murderer, and the book moves quickly on from there.

There's not much more I can talk about from there without giving it away. Fantastic writing and quick plot.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

3.5 Stars
This was a fast-paced thriller packed with action, deception, many turns, and a touch of paranormal. Mave Michael is the daughter of a hitman (hence the title hehe) who is away in prison. Desperate to live a normal live without the shadow of her father's name following her, she lands a job working at a once famed (and possibly haunted) hotel, the Château du Ciel. But when the resident artist turns up dead and Mave is found next to the body, her past comes back to haunt her and fingers seem to be pointing to her.
I wasn't sure how I felt about this one at first. I didn't love the writing style at first, it seemed very fast-paced and there was a lot to process, but the turns kept me reading. Let me say that there is a lot going on in this book, and quite a few twists and turns. It had my head spinning sometimes, and there were also points that were predictable to me. I could have done without [the chemistry between Mave and Holden (hide spoiler)], but towards the end it was so crazy that I had to know what was going to happen next. This was a fun, fast read.

Mave Michael Francis is the daughter of the notorious hitman, Cain Francis. He has taught his daughter everything he knows about survival, and even behind prison bars, he's still watching over her and making sure she's safe from harm.

Mave is the shopkeeper at a hotel that used to be beautiful and the place to be back in its prime. She has no idea of its secrets. When she discovers the resident artist, Birdie, dead in her suite, all fingers point to Mave. Instinctively Mave runs for her life and hides wherever she can find solace in the creepy, gothic hotel filled with secret passageways, a haunted library and a labyrinth of underground tunnels.

This novel is packed with secrets, lies, family drama, ghosts and a murder mystery. It was not a five-star read for me because it took me almost halfway through before I really became invested and the pace began to pick up. At around 47% it became unputdownable. I had to find out who really killed Birdie and what happened to Annabelle.

This is an easy read. The main protagonist is a likable, well-developed character. The author gives you enough information to be able to figure out who the killer is before the reveal, but still keeps you guessing since just about every character has some sort of motive to want Birdie dead.

What I really liked most about this book was the setting and the author's impeccable descriptions to help transport the reader to this hotel in the middle of a blizzard with no cell service or electricity. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. It's a great winter read because it will make you want to curl up next to a fire with a hot beverage and just get lost in its pages.

Special thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love the gothic horror and this book definitely had a bit of that! This book was a great mystery/ thriller. I read this book rather quickly, it is a real page turner. I loved the characters especially our main female character and the plot is very easy to read and follow. I definitely recommend this fun gothic thriller!

Thank you, Polis Books, for the advance reading copy.

First, the writing. It's good. Fast-paced and well planned. The only thing that matters the most when it comes to books like this.

The rest just kept me hooked on what the book had to offer. And I am really glad I got the chance to read this book early.

I love how easy it is to read and follow the plot and the characters. Usually detective stories tend to turn away rather easily from the main plot and the characters which make them focus on the personal lives of the characters too much at some point that it's just another average story.

But. Yes, I am happy with this book as it's plot centered and involves the characters in such a way that the story flows in perfect rhythm giving you a chance to take hint of the clues and keep on guessing.

A page turner. You will love the characters especially our main female character. The ending is so satisfying!

A onesitting read because it's that thrilling!

An intriguing plot and premise with a set of interesting characters. The story unfolds in two parallel parts, one portraying the present, in which Mave, the hitman's daughter, is suspected of murder. The second narrative is placed in the past, about thirty years ago, and is told over a series of letter exchanges of two friends.

Overall, the story is well told and plotted and holds quite a few surprises. I enjoyed the intimate style of storytelling, where the reader can get close to Mave's thoughts yet doesn't get to see the full picture almost until the end. The characters are well developed, as are their personal histories.

The setting, an old haunted mansion called Château du Ciel is a promising venue with a rich history and hidden passages, but isn't fully utilised. Though the mansion is occupied by high-flying guests who came for an exclusive New Year's eve party, we hardly see any of the inside happenings, and the guests/parties don't seem to influence the story by much.

There's quite a bit of over-explaining throughout the novel, often done via Mave's internal monologue, which doesn't add much value to the overall narrative, and there's an abundance of unfinished thoughts and sentences that distract the reading. I also wondered if the investigating sheriff would refer to Mave by her first name, given the fact that she's a complete stranger.

Despite everything, I enjoyed this thrilling novel and found it a satisfying mystery.

The Hitman's Daughter is a suspenseful thriller with many unexpected turns. You may believe you know who did it, but chances are you are mistaken.

Mave Michaels Francis did not grow up in a typical household. Her father, Cain Francis, is a hitman serving a sentence for his crimes, and she was raised and taught by him. Even though he's been incarcerated, he has a method of tracking down Mave. Every time, Mave moves in the hopes of losing him.

Mave is now employed at the Château du Ciel, which was constructed in the 1920s and was a popular attraction at the time. However, on August 4, 1991, everything went wrong for Château du Ciel. That night, everything changed. And on New Year's Eve, things are set to change even more.

On New Year's Eve, Mave receives a note from Elizabeth "Birdie" Everhart, the hotel's resident artist for nearly forty years, asking her to visit her in her suite so she can create a portrait of her. Unfortunately, after she discovers Birdie dead, everything starts to go wrong for her. She becomes the top suspect right away, and the security guards want her detained immediately.

The police will be unable to arrive due to the storm outside. Mave quickly realizes that the guards are aware of her father's identity and are attempting to frame her for the murder. However, Mave did not commit the crime, and it will be difficult to accept that the daughter of a convicted hitman is innocent.

As a result, she decides to seek answers in order to clear her name. She is forced to go into hiding. As she tries to find the real killer, her family’s past catches up with her in an unimaginable way. Everything isn't always what it appears to be. . .

This book is jam-packed with mysteries, shocking twists and turns, and long-forgotten truths that only the dead can reveal. The Château de Ciel is a haunted hotel that has kept its mysteries hidden since August 4, 1991. These secrets are about to be revealed.

*thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for the honest review*

“Two types of people in the world,” Cain recited, “the type who think police will help them, and the type who think police will get them. Now listen good, M&M: which group you belong to had nothing to do with guilt.”

Carolyne Topdjian’s debut is a nail-biting mystery expertly fused with a haunting ghost story! It’s set during New Year’s Eve in a haunted and dilapidated Grand Trunk Railway hotel during a snowstorm. Don’t let the word ‘debut’ cause any hesitation, Topdjian knows ‘haunted.’ After all, she lives in a 113-year old haunted house and worked in the hotel mentioned when she was younger. It’s here where she learned of the hotel’s boarded up train line and where her fascination and determination to write gothic suspense and mystery began.

When invitations are sent out to celebrate New Year’s Eve at the Chateau du Ciel, Mave Michael’s name is on the list. The hotel was once a luxury tourist attraction and hosted the ‘who’s who’ of society, unfortunately, it’s become run down and there are reports of hauntings. When Mave checks in just ahead of a sudden snowstorm, readers know that things are going to get exciting.

I don’t want to give too much away so I’ll just say that when the hotel loses power in the storm and Birdie Everhart, the resident artist who lives in the hotel is found dead, Mave is framed for the murder. This gothic whodunnit is a worthy read.

I pushed myself out of my comfort zone for this one and was so glad I took a chance. I was swept away by Topdjian’s sense of place. Her atmospheric setting and prior knowledge of the hotel added to this book’s success.

How refreshing to have a feminine slant on crime fiction. It’s rare in this dark genre to feature a strong female protagonist, one trained in martial arts, who comes across as likeable, kind and in command of her own fate. Cheers to a protagonist, who, because she’s NOT a damsel in distress, chooses to rely on lessons learned from her father to get her out of a predicament rather than to use violence. Mave works out her next move verbally and her thought processes are recorded, including those pieces of advice from her father - a notorious hitman serving time in prison. I loved seeing her work her way through the mystery. You’ll read about this courageous woman who crawls through labyrinth tunnels, hides in long-sealed vents and takes advantage of a resident ghost offering help. Topdjian will force readers to ditch preconceived stereotypes while leaving an open mind for ‘other powers’ to share part of the action. The ‘buck stops here’ with Topdjian; no more victimization of women in crime fiction on this author’s horizon. I must say, I loved Holden and the passages where he featured were the best in the book!

You’ll be compelled to read this gothic mystery because it’s unpredictable and twisty. The characters will delight you and the mystery will stump you. It will resonate with you for a long time. This Armenian-Canadian author, a rising star with an amazing trajectory, is definitely one to watch.

I was gifted this advance copy by Carolyne Topdjian, Polis Books, Agora Books, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.