The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
This suspense novel moves between present day and several years earlier in the summer of 2010, with the earlier portion mainly told through diary entries. Set in a coastal English town, the present day is the summer solstice, opening weekend of a luxury resort called The Manor. Besides the main building with its rooms, bar, and restaurant, there are seaside cottages and 'Woodland Hutches' which are small cabins nestled in the surrounding woods. The primary owner is Francesca Meadows who inherited the property from her grandmother. Secondary investors include her two older brothers, Hugo and Oscar. Francesca has also recently married Owen Dacre, the up-and-coming architect she hired for the project. Owen is still working on the newest addition, Treehouse rooms in the woods.
Most of the staff aren't local, but there are a few. Eddie is one of them. He works as a dishwasher, but has his eye on a bartender position. His parents' nearby farm isn't doing well, and he has plans that don't include it. The locals aren't fans of what Francesca has plans, and talk of the local tales of The Birds that come for those who have done evil or for whom someone has asked for vengeance on has started to grow. Even Francesca's grandfather warned her to be wary of The Birds before his death.
In the summer of 2010, we see Francesca and her brothers choosing favourites among the summer people and locals, inviting them to the manor, and having select parties. Alison, spending the summer at the local trailer park with her parents and grandparents, is the girl Francesca (known as Frankie back then) has chosen. It is her diary we read. But Alison also meets some locals, at the beach and at the trailer park, and they too become part of the story.
We know something happened back in 2010, something Alison needs closure about, but it is something only revealed later in the story. What we do know, is that the morning after the big Solstice event, the hotel is on fire, and at least one person is dead.
I found the plot compelling and the characters well-drawn. Dark and with lots of surprises.
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