The Woman in Suite 11

Published in 2025, The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware is the sequel to The Woman in Cabin 10, which has been adapted into a 2025 film starring Keira Knightley as Laura (Lo) Blacklock. Lo, a travel writer, is the protagonist of both mysteries. In addition to this series, Ware has authored many other best-selling novels, starting with In a Dark, Dark Wood in 2015. The Woman in Suite 11 explores the themes of The Challenges of Reestablishing a Career, The Effects of Trauma Due to Imprisonment, and How the Wealthy Can Control Others.

This guide is based on the First Scout Press hardcover edition.

Content Warnings: The source material and this guide feature depictions of murder, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual violence and/or harassment, substance use, mental illness, death by suicide, and cursing.

Plot Summary

At the beginning of the novel, Lo has been a stay-at-home mom for six years, and she’s ready to reenter the work force as a travel journalist. She receives an invitation to the opening of the Grand Hotel du Lac in Switzerland, and she pitches articles about it. Lo’s old boss asks her to get an interview with Marcus Leidmann, reclusive billionaire and CEO of the Leidmann Group. The hotel is part of the Journeys subdivision of the company, which is run by Marcus’s son, Pieter. Lo accepts the invitation with the support of her husband, Judah, who will take care of their two sons with his mother’s help.

When Lo arrives at the hotel, she sees several people who were aboard the cruise ship Aurora with her 10 years ago (the main setting of the novel The Woman in Cabin 10). Lo still struggles with the trauma she endured as a result of being imprisoned there, and she wrote a memoir about her experiences called Dark Waters. The ship was owned by Richard, who forced his mistress, Carrie, to imprison Lo after she witnessed Carrie disposing of the body of Richard’s wife, whom he had murdered. In the end, Carrie killed Richard and stole his wife’s identity.

Having read Lo’s book, Ben, her ex-boyfriend and a fellow travel writer, apologizes for how he treated her on the ship. Cole, a photographer who was also on that ship, promises to read the book; he has married and divorced someone else who was on the same cruise. Cole kisses her on the cheek, and Lo returns to her suite, where she finds a note asking her to come to Suite 11.

Carrie is in Suite 11. Marcus saw her the day the bank stopped letting her access Richard’s wife’s account, and they started dating. When Carrie upset Marcus, he threatened to turn her in to the police for her crimes. She became his prisoner, and he treated her abusively (in various ways) for years. He invited people from the Aurora to the hotel to remind her that she’s under his control. Carrie asks to use one of Lo’s passports to escape.

Lo has two passports because she moved from the UK to New York and has dual citizenship. She asks for a night to consider Carrie’s request. The next day, during a foraging expedition, Marcus surprises Lo with an interview. He says the succession of the company to Pieter isn’t guaranteed. When Lo asks about Marcus’s late wife, he ends the interview. Lo notices the attractive Italian driver who takes them back to the hotel.

Lo agrees to help Carrie, and (as she tells Pieter) she must leave the hotel a day early because her mother called her to say she fell and is hospitalized. On the first train between Switzerland and England, Carrie disguises herself as a pregnant woman. When they switch to the train that will take them across the border, Carrie disguises herself as Lo and uses Lo’s extra passport. Carrie treats Lo to a stay at the expensive Old Manor hotel and hides in her room.

On the day that Lo had planned to leave to visit her mother, her mother surprises her by calling to say she fell and is going to the hospital. Lo decides to stay at the Old Manor until she learns which hospital to go to, even though Marcus and Pieter arrive at the hotel. The next morning, Lo hears a woman screaming and goes out to investigate. The woman, a housekeeper, found Marcus’s body in his tub. She doesn’t realize that Marcus is dead and has Lo help her try to get him out of the water.

Pieter arrives, takes over for Lo with the body, and tells her to call the police. She runs back to her suite and calls from her cell phone. Lo is questioned by two detectives. Shortly after, a man named Filippo Capaldi, who says he’s with Interpol, questions Lo. She doesn’t mention Carrie to anyone.

The police discover that Marcus has a picture of Cole kissing Lo’s cheek, but it was taken from an angle that makes it look like a kiss on the mouth, and they arrest Lo, whom they identify as a prime suspect based on her past, her proximity to Marcus’s room, and the evidence of a struggle. The police imply that it looks like she was having affairs with both Cole and Marcus.

Lo is taken to the station and interviewed. She requests a lawyer, and while waiting, has a panic attack in the jail cell. However, she focuses on the injustice of her arrest, and her anger overcomes her panic. The next day, Dan, a friend of Cole’s, arrives to represent her. He gets her out on bail. Ben and Cole are waiting outside the station. They all go to breakfast, and Dan gives Lo the records of the key cards for her suite and Marcus’s suite at the Old Manor hotel. Lo returns to the hotel. In her suite, Carrie left behind the copy of Winnie-the-Pooh that Lo had aboard the Aurora. Inside is a note that Carrie is saying goodbye.

Lo thinks Pieter killed Marcus because of his threat to disinherit Pieter. She heard Pieter talking to Marcus early the morning of the murder in his hotel room, but didn’t hear Marcus’s reply. Marcus supposedly called for room service after Pieter talked to him. Judah comes to the Old Manor to help Lo with her legal battle. Lo can track Carrie because Carrie took Lo’s suitcase, in which Judah put an AirTag. Carrie is staying with her grandmother.

Carrie confesses that she faked the call from Marcus via a recording after she and Pieter drowned Marcus in the bathtub. The murder occurred before the police believe it did. Lo tells Carrie she needs to turn herself in and explain that Marcus was abusive and that the murder was self-defense. Carrie will only go with Filippo, the supposed Interpol agent. However, she leaves a phone in Lo’s jacket.

When Lo’s mother gets out of the hospital, Lo and Judah stay with her. One night, when Lo is in the house alone, she doesn’t answer a knock at the door because she’s in the bath. As she gets out, she hears a phone, but it’s an unfamiliar ring. Following the sound, she finds the phone in her jacket and encounters Pieter. He thought no one was home and only wanted the phone.

They struggle, but Lo manages to call the police. Rather than be arrested, Pieter dies by suicide, using his own gun, in front of Lo. Lo is severely injured when she steps on the glass from where Pieter broke into the house. When emergency services arrive, she’s taken to the hospital. The phone has evidence of Pieter murdering his father, and the charges against Lo are dropped.

She returns to New York with Judah and writes a successful piece about the collapse of the Leidmann Group after the deaths of Marcus and Pieter. This restarts her writing career, and Lo realizes that she can balance motherhood with work. One day, she gets an Instagram message from Carrie. It’s a photo of her and Filippo (who was just one of Marcus’s drivers impersonating law enforcement) on a beach. Lo realizes that Carrie lied to her about Filippo. However, Lo is glad Carrie escaped from her abusive relationship and doesn’t contact the real police.