Please Enjoy Your Stay by Australian author Tara Goedjen is a debut fiction novel combining a murder mystery, true-crime obsession, and gothic suspense.
From the very first page, readers meet thirteen-year-old Mia. She and her cousin Tristan are staying at an infamous castle in the Austrian Alps when something terrible happens. She hears voices, sees someone she recognises, and then discovers Tristan is dead. Her testimony helps put the killer behind bars, but her life is shattered.
Ten years later, the murderer is appealing his conviction, and a popular true crime podcaster takes on the case, determined to prove his innocence. As he starts digging deeper, more lies and secrets about Mia and her family begin to come to light. Once again, Mia finds herself under public scrutiny and returns to Austria to revisit what happened and piece together her memories of that time.
The castle is being turned into a luxury hotel, and Mia takes a job as a nanny for the new owner. She’s basically hiding in plain sight, using the opportunity to investigate and finally find out what really happened all those years ago. But when someone mysteriously disappears from the property and new evidence about her cousin’s death comes to light, Mia starts questioning everything she thought she knew. Could she have sent the wrong person to prison?
The story jumps between different parts of the timeline, with Mia in the present day, what happened around Tristan’s death, Iris’s material from the time of the murder, and the true-crime podcast. Instead of giving you everything in order, the story slowly reveals little pieces along the way. I think this is what makes the opening so clever because you know something terrible has happened, but you don’t really know what Mia saw or how everything fits together.
The author’s writing is easy to get into and really draws you into the story. The characters felt real, and I found myself connecting with some, getting frustrated with others, and wanting to understand some of them more. I was constantly questioning their motives, changing my mind about them…and wondering what they might be hiding.
Mia was easily the strongest character for me. She has spent years carrying the guilt, grief and trauma of Tristan’s death, and I understood why she needed to return to the castle to find out if she had helped put an innocent man in prison.
Tristan is at the heart of the story, but because we only know him through Mia’s memories, I felt his absence more than I felt like I really knew him. I wanted to know more about who he was.
Iris, his mother, was complicated and made me suspicious, especially because she was a successful true-crime writer. There were also some interesting secondary characters, although I sometimes felt their backstories could have been explored a little more.
The hotel setting was one of my favourite things about the whole story. You would normally associate a luxury hotel with comfort, relaxation and escaping from everyday life, but Goedjen manages to turn that idea completely on its head. Instead of feeling safe, the hotel starts to feel claustrophobic and unsettling. You get this feeling that behind all the beautiful surroundings and polished appearances, there are secrets hiding everywhere.
Please Enjoy Your Stay is not a frantic, action-packed thriller where something happens on every page. It’s more of a slow-burn mystery that gradually pulls you in and makes you question the people, the situation and what is happening. The twisty nature of the plot and its unpredictability will keep readers engaged.
I highly recommend this to those who enjoy psychological thrillers, secrets, complicated characters and stories where things aren’t always what they seem.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Please Enjoy Your Stay by Tara Goedjen. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.