review by showhost
I have never read a book
by this author before but I was in our local library with my grandson and
thought I need to get a new library card so I will borrow a book (haha). There
weren’t any of my ‘usual’ authors so grabbed this one as good reviews for her
on the back of the book and a CWA dagger winner. It's good to try new authors and widen your
options and I enjoyed this one.
It's not a fast paced
crime book, the tension builds slowly. It begins in the home of the recently
deceased Thomas Porteous who died from natural causes. The police are in the house as well as
Thomas's wife of 10years (his very young wife).
What has made the police suspicious, and why they are there, is because
she waited hours before reporting his death.
The story then goes back
to how Thomas & mad Di (his wife) met which was very unusual - she was 17,
from a dysfunctional family and breaking in to his house to pinch his car keys
for her gang; but when she entered she
was mesmerized by his collection of paintings and shocked to find him bound to
a chair with a noose around his neck.
Something she never told the police about. Whilst she was in prison Thomas sent her art
books.
After serving her prison
sentence she got in touch as he knew she would. He was in awe of her, of her intelligence and
quick eye for the beauty in the paintings.
Mad Di moved in as Thomas’s housekeeper but eventually he asked her to
marry him. People in the small town
where they lived believed she was just a gold digger. His 2 daughters were appalled, not only
because of the age gap but also they could lose what they considered theirs –
his money/house & paintings. They
did not like their father nor had their mother and very rarely went to see him. His grandchildren were also banned from
seeing him.
They needed to get rid of
young Di, anyway that they could, but Thomas had pre-empted them. He was dying of cancer and was worried that
when his time came that his scheming daughters would try to take everything
from Di. So a plan was hatched with a
confidente and on his death the battle of wills began.
I will definitely look
for another book by this author.
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