My thoughts on Please Enjoy Your Stay by Tara Goedjen. This New Gothic Suspense is perfect for fans of Rachel Hawkins!
Please Enjoy Your Stay by Tara Goedjen : New Gothic Suspense
Jen’s Quick Take on Please Enjoy Your Stay
- Please Enjoy Your Stay is a Gothic suspense story
- The narrative has a past/present format
- Two crimes took place in Hohenfels, an Austrian castle, one in 2015 and the other in 1969
- There’s a podcast element, as a podcaster decides to look into the 2015 case
- Publication Date: October 13, 2026 by Atria Books
What is Please Enjoy Your Stay About?
The Gothic vibes in Please Enjoy Your Stay were strong, with a young woman who returns to an Austrian castle that was the site of her cousin’s tragic murder. Amelia and her aunt and cousin were at Hohelfels so that her aunt, a true crime writer, could research the 1969 murder. After someone murdered her aunt’s son (her cousin), Amelia and her aunt fled to the U.S.
When a podcaster begins to dig back in the case, in which a young Amelia was the witness that sent a man to prison for the crime, Amelia takes a job as a nanny to the businesswoman who is renovating the castle into a wellness resort.
What I Thought of Please Enjoy Your Stay
I love a modernized Gothic story and thought this one was fun and twisty, complete with a Mrs. Danvers-type character, a character with a secret (Amelia, now “Mia” is concealing her identity), and a creepy old castle.
With its past/present narrative and location plus the wellness resort, it reminded me a bit of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins crossed with The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley.
Please Enjoy Your Stay: Q and A
Do you have questions about the book? Leave me a comment and I’ll try to answer them!
Spoilers are hidden; just use the arrow to uncover them!
Who Killed Tristan DeLaney and Gitta Aiglar in Please Enjoy Your Stay?
We have to discuss the two murders together: the 1969 killing of Gitta Aiglar and her husband. Then there’s the 2015 murder of Tristan, whose mother Iris came to the castle to research the Aiglar case. The Aiglars owned the castle, and Amelia/Mia thought she saw Augustin kill Tristan. But he didn’t. Tristan died because he figured out who killed Gitta: Heinrich Aiglar, Gitta’s father. Heinrich killed Gitta and her husband to hide the fact that he was a serial killer who killed missing hiker Johanna Steiner in 1969. Augustin did confront Tristan and hit him, but then he left. Tristan was then killed by Augustin Aiglar’s son Janik, who wanted to keep his grandfather’s secret.
What? Help me with who is who the Aiglar family?
Heinrich Aiglar was the patriarch. His daughter Gitta had a son, Augustin, who was five at the time of her murder. Augustin then dated Iris when she arrived at the castle to do research on his mother’s murder. Amelia accused Augustin of Tristan’s murder. But Tristan was actually killed by Augustin’s son Janik, who was supposedly away at boarding school the night that Tristan died.
Why did Janik plot all this?
Janik wanted justice for his father, which was a bit ironic since he did it. But I guess he thought there was no evidence against him. Janik was Rachel’s source for the podcast, and, as Anya’s right hand man, made sure Amelia/Mia got hired so she’d be there.