‘A Castle In The Clouds’ Is A Grand Hotel Romp

As soon as I opened to the title page of A Castle in the Clouds , something seemed familiar. I saw Romy Fursland’s translator credit, and then flipped back to Kerstin Gier’s bio. She was indeed the German author of the fabulous Ruby Red trilogy, books I read many years ago. While A Castle in the Clouds is far more of a cozy mystery than a sweeping historical fantasy like the Ruby Red series, its precocious main character and huge, quirky supporting cast make this new novel just as enjoyable. 17-year-old high school dropout Sophie Spark is working a year-long internship at a picturesque hotel high in the Swiss Alps known as Castle in the Clouds. The grand hotel doesn’t usually host many children, but this year, over the Christmas holiday, there is such a large population that Sophie must take on babysitting in addition to her regular duties. While watching two of her young charges, Sophie slides down a hill and comes to a stop in the middle of the road, narrowly missing being hit by Ben