Antigone Jones (Tiggy) is an Australian mystery novelist who inherits a boat house on a Devon estuary. It was the home of her grandmother, a woman sheAntigone Jones (Tiggy) is an Australian mystery novelist who inherits a boat house on a Devon estuary. It was the home of her grandmother, a woman she sadly never met. Her gran was an artist, and reputed to be a psychic, rather she practiced psychometry.
Tiggy's first few weeks at her new home are very eventful indeed! It seems that her property is very coveted as it is on the waterfront. She is threatened is subtle and not so subtle ways. She wonders who she can trust.
Tiggy is made aware that her grandmother owned a dog. A Dalmador named Raider. It turns out that he was being cared for by a teenager named Baxter since her grandmother's death. Not your typical teenager, Baxter is on the spectrum, socially inept, and very intelligent. He is devastated to surrender Raider to Tiggy's care, but she makes it easier for him by arranging for Baxter to walk Raider twice a day. Baxter becomes a real friend to Tiggy.
When Tiggy discovers a cellar door in the floor of her boathouse, events spiral. She finds that there is the body of an infant child buried there. Also, there is a pentagram carved into the walls of the cellar. Did her grandmother know that the baby was there?
Things take a turn for the worse when Tiggy and Raider face personal jeopardy.
With themes of secrecy, infanticide, avarice, and ancient folklore this mystery carried more heft than your average 'cozy' mystery. The descriptive passages were very vivid and the subject matter sometimes distressing. The characters were personable and intriguing, reminiscent of "Murder She Wrote" in the fact that Tiggy is a mystery writer AND an amateur sleuth. I am eager to follow them on their next adventures....more
The plot revolves around Josie, a successful young actress who has fled her life in Hollywood and returned to her hometown, a suburb of Cleveland, OhiThe plot revolves around Josie, a successful young actress who has fled her life in Hollywood and returned to her hometown, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. There she lives in her own house with two cats and works as a drama teacher at the local high school. When one of her students plunges to her death from the town's water tower, it is later discovered that the girl was high on fentanyl when she perished. Josie discovered the girl's body when she was out for her daily morning run. Then, another teen death rocks the town and Josie investigates when the police seem to be apathetic or governed by budgets and political clout.
Meanwhile, Josie is suffering from insomnia, which affects her daily life, thought processes, and impacts her memory. Her three hometown friends provide a much needed support group for her. We know that something caused Josie mental anguish the previous year, but the reader is not privy to her backstory until almost the end of the book. I feel her backstory should have been revealed sooner.
I'm a real cat lover, so I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes that included Josie's two felines, Presley and Monroe.
This debut novel held my interest throughout, though to be honest it read more like a YA novel than one geared toward an adult audience. At times I grew tired of reading about what the characters looked like, the clothes they were wearing, etc. The dialogue with the teenagers was grating at times, though I acknowledge teens do intersperse most sentences with the word 'like', I suggest that the practice was exacerbated here. I liked the rapport Josie seemed to have with her students, and it highlighted the effect of the opioid epidemic and social media on today's teenagers and young adults.
This novel propounds the fact that it is naive and dangerous to be too trusting. The ending provided an excellent segue for a sequel book.
In summation, this was a worthy effort for a debut novel. I enjoyed it enough to read the author's second novel....more
Frankie Elkin is a one in a million character. So unique, so broken, and so very memorable. I loved her and was sad when I turned the last page on herFrankie Elkin is a one in a million character. So unique, so broken, and so very memorable. I loved her and was sad when I turned the last page on her story.
That being said, she could, potentially return in further books (she said with her fingers and toes crossed). However, I want Frankie to stop drifting and stay in Boston, working at Stoney's bar, going to AA meetings with Charlie, and teaming up with Boston Police Detective Lotham.
I adored the writing in this book. The dreadful and disturbing circumstances which were lightened with levity and sarcasm. This is my very first Lisa Gardner book, and now I want to read her previous work.
The book brings home the truism that people all over are really the same. Regardless of their social standing, ethnicity, religion, or other persuasion, people all want enough food to eat, a safe place to live, someone to care for, someone who cares for them.
This novel also spoke to the plight of illegal immigrants in this modern world. It told of inner city teens striving to better themselves and their situations in any way they can.
I adored this book much more than I expected to. It is all Frankie Elkin's fault.
Having read the first novel in this series back in 2018, I'm ashamed to say that it has taken me three years to get to the second one. After reading "Having read the first novel in this series back in 2018, I'm ashamed to say that it has taken me three years to get to the second one. After reading "Treacherous Strand" I realized that I shouldn't have waited so long. I blame my lengthy TBR.
With themes of infidelity, bloodlines, redemption, and doomsday cults, this novel will keep you interested and the flow of the narrative is smooth. The setting is atmospheric, and the characters likeable.
My only personal quibbles with the story are 1) Ben should have known better than to put herself in some of the circumstances she found herself in; and 2) I'm not comfortable with reading about cults.
The author is a solicitor herself, so that part of the narrative is knowledgeable and convincing. Not gritty by any means, yet somehow more serious than a 'cozy'. The frisson of romantic tension between Ben and policeman/Guard Tom Molloy only slightly impact the story, but in a good way.
I can see how Ben's 'nosiness' coupled with her line of work and her romantic interest in the town's policeman will engender many more interesting stories for this series. It is a series I intend to follow when time permits and I have just purchased the third novel "The Well of Ice" which I am greatly anticipating. Recommended. ♣...more
I have heard such glowing praise for this author, that I was expecting to like this book more than I did. The cover and the blurb were very enticing, I have heard such glowing praise for this author, that I was expecting to like this book more than I did. The cover and the blurb were very enticing, but I found that they were both somewhat misleading.
I expected an Agatha Christie type mystery set in an idyllic location - what I got was a modern "Big Little Lies" type novel complete with status snobbery, infidelity, and back-stabbing.
The book's beginning held great promise with a body found near a riverbank. From there it evolved into a one woman's investigations into the murder of her neighbour.However... she digresses so much off topic that I almost forgot at times about the murder she was supposedly investigating. She intends to write a book about the murder and investigation with the hopes that it will revive her career.
The setting was ideal and picturesque. The murder victim was an unlikable woman who garnered little sympathy.
This novel was written using a single narrator. The sleuth, our narrator/protagonist, Jillian White, came across as shallow, judgemental, and condescending. When I should have felt sorry for her (when she was treated badly by her husband), all I could think was that she deserved it.
I did enjoy some of the humour within the book, though at times I found it held a nasty edge.
I had feared that this would be a 2 star read for me, but then at about 80% through the book, it really picked up with more attention given to the murder and the causes behind it. The last few chapters brought my score up to 3 stars.
I liked the writing, so would read another book by this author to see what all the fuss was about. However, I cannot heartily recommend "Weycombe" as a must-read....more
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