I love the bleakness in Ware's novels. I love her independent female protagonists, they don't need a man to rely on, or solve their problems, a lot different than the usual damsel in distress.
The Death of Mrs Westaway was an exceptionally well-written book. We follow the story of Hal, crushed by her mother's sudden death she's trying to make a living inheriting her Tarot reading business on Brighton pier, until a letter changes her life forever. She's been pulled into an inheritance drama, which takes her to miles away from Brighton to misty Cornwall where a grand mansion full of magpies, lies, secrets and the reality about her mum's past awaits her...
The story was bleak and the gothic atmosphere was as magical as Cornwall's foggy mornings. Blending Tarot reading into this story was genius. I loved the ending and definitely didn't see the 'main' surprise coming.

Ruth Ware doesn't disappoint. I've read all her books since In a Dark Dark Wood and looking forward for the next one out. A 5 star mystery / thriller with quality writing, solid characters and flawless plot line.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy reading everything Ruth Ware creates.
This story had a really interesting premise, but I felt that the build up was a bit slow. The twist was predictable and not that surprising at all.
I enjoyed the book, but it could have been better.

This is the second book that I have read recently where the house it was set in felt like an extra character. I don’t think many readers will wish they lived in Trespassen with its gloomy, sinister feel. The main character is Hal (Harriet) and I’m sad to say I just couldn’t take to her. We seemed to be privy to her every waking thought and it was just too much for me. Perhaps the age difference between us was too great and younger readers may fair better. Overall it is a good story, very atmospheric and with a few surprises.

How much do I love the books of Ruth Ware? Let me count the ways...the well plotted stories that never let up, the almost gothic sense of menace behind the everyday occurences and the relatable protagonists are a good place to start!
'The death of Mrs Westaway' reminded me of a cross between 'Rebecca' and 'Peril at End House' by Agatha Chrisite. Alternating between Cornwall and Brighton, young Harriet(Hal)Westaway is an end of the pier tarot card reader. Broke, orphaned and being chased by loan sharks, the arrival of a letter informing her that her grandmother has died and she is a beneficiary of the will, comes like a blessing.
But as she looks for evidence to prove she is the granddaughter of Mrs Westaway, how long can she convince the rest of the family that she isn't a golddigger? What happens when she starts to think that she has found the family she has always been looking for? Who scratched 'Help me' into the glass of the attic window,why were the bolts on the outside of the attic door and why does the housekeeper hate her so much?
A riveting book with twists and turns that keep you going to the very last page, this is going to be another success for Ruth Ware!

I've read all of Ruth Ware's books and loved this one as much as the others. I started off thinking how's Hal going to get out of the deception if found out, but off course it wasn't going to be as straight forward as that, and the mystery of her mother and father and family kept me reading and guessing.
Recommended read.

I love Ruth Ware's books, and in this one she creates a wonderful tribute to the Christie / Golden Age era. Hugely enjoyable

I was hesitant to read this as I struggled with 'In A Dark, Dark Wood'. But I'm glad I gave this a try.

It did take a few chapters to really get going but once it did I didn't want to stop. I needed answers. What happened to Maud? Who is Hal's father?.

Throughout the book I had a few theories for both questions. I ended up sort of being correct with who Hal's father was. But I didn't see it coming what happened to Maud, although looking back I probably should of.

The writing flowed a lot better than the previous book I read. I did expect it to be darker, more intense type of book but it was still very enjoyable. I recommend it.

The Death of Mrs Westaway is another excellent novel from Ruth Ware. I really enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10 so I was looking forward to reading this.
The story starts with 21-year-old ‘Hal’ or full name Harriet. Who works as a Tarot reader on Brighton Pier. She is finding it hard to make ends meet, after the death of her mother three months Loan shark after her, after she borrowed some money. At first she paid the instalments but the interest got higher and higher. She then ignored the phone calls and the letters. As she is sitting in her flat, wondering what she is going to do, she sieves through a pile of envelopes that she thinks are all bills, when she comes across a handwritten letter from a solicitor that her Grandmother had left her an inheritance. All her money woes are over. The only problem, that she doesn’t know anything about a grandmother or any other family for that matter. She thinks that the letter is a mistake but, she goes along with it, as she thinks that the family is rich. They won’t miss a few hundred quid.
This is a creepy, atmospheric gothic mystery set in a rundown mansion. Hal discovers the secrets of her family and the real cause of her mother’s death three years previously. I really enjoyed this. It gripped me from the very start. I also cannot look at a magpie in the same way again…

The Death of Mrs Westaway is another compelling read by Ruth Ware. Set in the present day and the mid 1990s, the story of Harriet (Hal) Westaway is told in the first person as Hal struggles to negotiate her financial struggles as she eeks out a living as a tarot card reader on Brighton pier after the death of her mother 3 years earlier. When she receives a letter naming her as a beneficiary in the will of Mrs Westaway - her supposed grandmother, Hal grapples with her conscience over whether she should go along with the error as a way of escaping the loan sharks in Brighton or face the consequences of her debts. Her decision and subsequent actions reveal an intricate web of family secrets and lies with shocking consequences.

I enjoyed this novel and was compelled to keep reading despite it being fairly formulaic. Whilst I didn't guess the ending entirely - it wasn't a complete surprise either but this didn't stop me from finding it to be a satisfying conclusion and I think fans of mysteries & thrillers will not be disappointed with this offering.

Harriet (Hal) Westaway is living in a dingy flat, the one she continues to stay in after her mother passed away after an accident. With bills piling up and a loan shark circling, she is shocked to find a letter from a solicitor advising her that she may have come into an inheritance from her Grandmother.....the only thing is that it wasn’t her grandmothers name.
Hal is a ‘cold reader’, she tells fortunes in a booth on the Brighton Pier. She knew she played people for a living but could she deceive her supposed relatives for a slice of the inheritance? But when she arrives at Trepassen House she suddenly wonders what she has got herself into.
Wow, I loved this book. I haven’t read one with such a gothic, dark atmosphere in a long time. I kept on thinking I could hear the swish of long skirts down the corridor but in fact, it is set undoubtedly in modern times.
Even though Hal initially sets out to play her ‘relatives’, she is very likable and I felt Hal’s reading and interpretation of the tarot cards was very interesting. With the creepy housekeeper Mrs Warren, to the fighting siblings and the lovely, kind ‘aunt’ Mitzi, these characters come alive. There were many twists and turns which had me guessing all the way through, while I silently cheered Hal on to find the truth.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and thank Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC to read.

Ruth Ware is an author I really enjoy reading so I was looking forward to her latest novel. The plot appealed to me as soon as I read it, and I was interested to see what would happen when Hal started out on her mission.
I found the plot to have some good twists and turns, despite being a tad far fetched in a couple of places. I found the story line and the characters easy to connect with and follow.
A nice twist at the end that I hadn't suspected at all which I am never disappointed by from Ruth Ware.

This has all the elements of a classic murder mystery story with a touch of the Gothics thrown in. There's a creepy mansion with an ancient, unfriendly housekeeper, a will-reading that reveals family members will not inherit and a tarot-reading girl, an orphan, who has been hoisted into this strange, dysfunctional family. It is a very enjoyable read with some nice twists and scary bits. My only gripe is that the atmosphere, setting and situation of the story is so firmly 1950's at the latest, the use of modern technology and speech jar and just don't fit. That said, this will appeal to a wide audience and kept me page-turning eagerly.

This book is about Hal. Hal is a tarot reader who is down on her luck, she is on her own since her mother died in a car crash and she owes money to an unscrupulous money lender. She receives a letter informing her her grandmother has died and has been left something in her Will. It doesn’t sit right with her but she decides to go and find out anyway.

I was really excited when I heard about this book. Although I was expecting this to be creepy it was more of a mystery. I spent the whole of this book wondering which characters were telling the truth and who was lying. I really enjoyed all the twists and turns. My only criticism is that I got a bit confused with a few of the characters towards the end and had to reread a paragraph a couple of times to work out the ending.

Firstly, I loved the premise of 'The Death of Mrs Westaway' by Ruth Ware - an intriguing mystery with plenty of twists perhaps? When I began to read, however, it wasn't what I had been expecting at all. Not to say that that's a bad thing. Rather, this is very much a mixed bag of several genres and very dark in places but it's a good read, well told, with a surprising twist to the tale. It keeps the reader guessing throughout with suspense levels high. An enjoyable read.

My favourite of Ruth Ware's has to be In a Dark, Dark, Wood... until now!  The Death of Mrs Westaway is astonishingly good and awesomely creepy.  Ruth really captivates you with an eccentric bunch of characters; an estranged family that once all resided at Trepassen House, which having been left unloved for many years, is now pretty spooky.

Hal is streetwise.  She had to grow up pretty fast, and learn to look after herself, when her mother was killed in a hit and run when Hal was only 18-years-old.  Now at the tender age of 21, she has to make a life-changing decision, does she seek out what the letter beholds, or does she leave the past where it belongs?

I loved the gothic feel to Trepassen House and the secrets it has hidden deep within its roots about the intriguing Westaway Family.  There is a real dark element to the tale and I felt nervous for Hal and what could potentially unfold.

The use of tarot within the story is very clever.  Hal uses the cards to help her, they are a  comfort, but as Hal constantly reminds herself; the cards are not magic or psychic, but they do have a way of pointing you in a certain direction, making you more aware of things around you.  It is very effective and I love how Ruth has used this topic and perfectly entwines it deep into the story.

This is a real 'guess again' read.  I found myself trying to figure out how Hal was related to the Westaways, and why on earth her late 'apparent' grandmother, more or less, left her entire estate to her.  Is Mrs Westaway trying to make amends with the past, or is she so cleverly leading Hal into uncovering something far more sinister?  From what I could grasp from the three sons, the latter is more likely.  Mrs Westaway can only be described as an old battle-axe, a real formidable lady, a woman not to cross, or perhaps a woman scorned.

As the tale unfolds, you will find yourself being sucked in deeper, feeling the tinges of  suspense, and all jobs will lay abandoned until you finish the final page.  I loved it, and I really think you will too!

Harriet Westaway owes money, a seaside fortune teller, she decides to get the free money supposedly left to her even if it isn't rightfully hers to own...



Once she moves in to the house in the estate left, she discovers deep secrets with Maud, Maggie, Mrs Warren, Ezra and her parents that were deeply buried with sinister secrets, but once she discovers them, will she be safe anymore?



A drama filled mystery thriller with a murderous twist you won't expect. The book will keep you hooked and desperate for answers as we sink deeper into the secrets the Westaways have.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I'm genuinely torn between three and four stars for The Death of Mrs Westaway—there's something about Ruth Ware's writing which makes me almost demented with the need to find out what happens next, yet her books so often become implausible to the point of ridiculousness. I found The Woman on Cabin 10 to be so intensely gripping I couldn't stop thinking about it, then the bizarre ending—[where the heroine ends up running around Norway barefoot (hide spoiler)] fell completely flat. The Lying Game was the first of her books I could say was truly bad, though, again, I flew through it. But the plot was totally incoherent—I wasn't even sure what I, as the reader, was even supposed to suspect was going on.

The Death of Mrs Westaway is a return to form—it might even be her best yet. A fantastic concept, almost as brilliant as The Woman on Cabin 10. I half-guessed the ending, and even worried the author had shown her hand too quickly and easily, but there was another twist in store that knocked me flat.

I did have a few tiny issues—[why did Hal keep going back to stay in the awful horrible bedroom in the loft with the bolts on the door when she returned to Trespassen, when all the other rooms were free?! (hide spoiler)] Also I felt that [Ezra (hide spoiler)]was too interesting a character not to be somehow directly involved in the backstory. And honestly, I felt Hal was too hesitant and worried about deceiving the Westaways—she second-guesses herself every two lines once she gets to Cornwall, and I felt like yelling "get on with it!" It was almost as if Ware was too concerned that Hal should be likable and sympathetic, but it would have been more fun if she'd had a bit more of a conniving streak.

Overall, though, despite its wobbles, The Death of Mrs Westaway is just so entertaining. And I will be reading Ware's next one as soon as it's off the presses/e-book creating machine.

This is very reminiscent of Agatha Christie's writing but I found it too drawn out. Still a good story though

The Death of Mrs Westaway is a thriller( with her death being a catalyst of future events and tainted due to the past events),but it is not just about the point of the tale, the who and why of the events that unfold. It is more than that, it has an aura which the author builds in such a way that we are cloaked within the chilling ambience and therefore we can feel with Hal (our protagonist). Hal has received a mysterious letter whose contents do not make sense. She is in a very depressed phase of life and the weather does not help. We can actually feel the darkness descend to cloak the sad woman who is almost still just a girl mourning her loneliness. Hal sets out to test and see if this odd chance is a way to make some money. She makes an entrance into the Westaway homestead with its even more oppressive atmosphere. She does not know the people she is sharing a roof  with, and they are just starting to know her. There are a few twists and a lot of analysis that Hal ends up doing. It is hard to trust your gut when it comes to the other players with a lot of side stepping that happens. The plot line is not extremely shocking since it works up to the revelation, but the writing and the narration makes this book special.

Ruth Ware writes an eerie, atmospheric and dark twisted murder mystery in the style of the golden age of crime classics with elements of the gothic. 21 year old Harriet 'Hal' Westaway lost her mother in a hit and run car accident, and took up the mantle of becoming a tarot reader at the Brighton Pier. Alone in the world, she is in dire financial straits, owing money to unscrupulous loan sharks, and facing a bleak and unpromising future. Out of the blue, she receives a letter that tells her of an inheritance left to her by grandmother, Hester Mary Westaway, which she knows is an error, as both of her grandparents have been dead for a while. Her predicament and circumstances drive her to fraudulently pursue the inheritance, as she attends the funeral and travels to Cornwall to the huge and dilapidated Trepassen House, surrounded ominously by magpies. It doesn't take her long to become aware that something is terribly wrong. This is a story of a dysfunctional family, sibling conflicts and rivalry, intrigue, legacies and buried secrets from the past.

Placed in the attic room, Hal faces hostility from all quarters, apart from Ezra. The elderly, menacing and strange Mrs Warren, the housekeeper appears to have own secrets as well as knowing secrets of others. Hal embarks on a search for the truth aided by her trusty tarot cards, as she wonders what her mother's involvement with the family is. As the past threatens to reveal itself, Hal has to draw on her inner resources as danger swirls around her. Hal is a flawed character, who you can forgive her deceptions, given the precarious nature of her finances. She is brave and courageous in the face of the dark Trepassen House and all the secrets held within its walls. Ware gives us a well plotted tale with rich evocative descriptions. This is a creepy, absorbing and entertaining read which I thoroughly enjoyed with its echoes of Rebecca, Agatha Christie and more. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.