Author: Kate Young
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)
ISBN #: 9781643857428
Crooked Lane Books
336 Pages
$25.99; $13.99 Amazon
September 7, 2021
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What better time than Halloween to dig into a bracing discussion of a diabolical murder mystery? And what better choice for the Jane Doe Book Club than Agatha Christie's Crooked House? Lyla Moody and her friends are soon embroiled in debate over whether the heroine's actions are particularly believable. But not long after the meeting, sleepy Sweet Mountain, Georgia, is rocked by a murder that uncannily echoes the novel in question.
When Lyla and her grandmother arrive at the charity event that Lyla's mother is hosting, they barely have time to hang up their jackets before they stumble upon a body in the library. Leonard Richardson, it seems, was robbed and then hit over the head with a brass candlestick -- which throws suspicion on Harper Richardson, his young widow and a friend of the Jane Does.
Lyla and the rest of the Jane Does pool their prodigious intellects to clear Harper's name. Peculiarly, all of the clues seem to have been lifted directly from the plot of Crooked House. But as Lyla probes the pages of Christie's classic whodunit for hints on catching the killer, she uncovers secrets from her mother's past -- secrets that suggest Lyla's own house may be crooked as well.
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Lyla Moody works for her uncle Calvin's private investigation agency, working to become a PI herself. When she's not working, she spends some time with her book club, the Jane Does, who discuss mystery books. One of their part-time members is Harper Richardson, who seems to be having trouble of her own. It doesn't help that there's a mysterious writer in town, and he's garnering attention from people who would rather he wasn't there.
After one of their meetings, Lyla and her Gran head over to Lyla's mother's home, where Frances Moody is hosting a charity event. But they aren't there long before Gran stumbles upon a body, and Lyla recognizes the man as Leonard Richardson, Harper's husband. When Harper is targeted for the murder, Lyla and her fellow book club members know they have to prove her innocence. But doing so isn't going to be easy.
Harper's family members are overly strange -- to say the least -- and her mother has become a woman she's never seen before, scared and a ghost of herself. Also, the writer, Charles, is making a pest of himself, and her even Calvin, who's normally unflappable, seems rattled and warns Lyla to stay clear of Charles. When there's an incident and in the process of helping Lyla is purposefully attacked, she wants to know who's doing it. But when she starts to dig, she discovers that there are secrets that are better left alone -- and they're coming to the surface...
First off, I must say that this book has nothing to do with Halloween, as the blurb states. Saying that, this is the second book in the series, and I found it completely riveting. The story is one of secrets held, both old and new, and people who are not what they seem. Curiosity kept me reading, but I found a familiarity in it, only for where I live, and have been near people like this more than once. (Although not as strange as the characters in the book).
It's difficult to write a review without giving away too much of this plot; for it is a story that connects one thread to another, and another; until all the threads pull it together giving us a final story that was long buried and should have remained so.
The ending was as surprising as an ending could be; the killer was most of all. What we know we really don't; and what we see isn't always what is there. The author has done an excellent job of this tale, and I eagerly look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
I was given a copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Kate Young's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/y/kate-young/
No comments:
Post a Comment