The lobby fireplace crackled as cozily as Christmas caroling orphans and an eggnog enema, and had been crackling since 1911. The same year that the Spanish Flu epidemic nearly wiped out the human species. Funny, the things you learn googling factoids at three o’clock in the morning, Margaret thought. Funnier still were the details missed and revealed later only by firsthand experience. For example, nowhere in any of the blogs, forums, or reviews she had read was there mention of the greenish tinge to the fire in the lobby fireplace that so mystified her as she stumbled past it, feeling emotionally drained and prematurely hung over.

Had it been an intentional misdirection, a global internet conspiracy, focusing on foodie blogs and staff reviews instead? She couldn’t imagine that it did. It had been so...

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