“The Mermaids were three women who’d chosen different seas”

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I began reading this book not knowing what to expect from the title and premise alone, only certain that at some 400 pages in length, it was going to have be something special to hold my attention. Well! I had no need to worry on that score, as if I swipe the final page, when all those loose ends have been neatly tidied away, yet I still find myself wanting more and for it not to be over, then I know an author has done their job and done it well.

There are so many different strands to this storyline, yet they all fit together and are woven carefully and thoughtfully, into a final heart-stopping denouement, without any single aspect threatening to overwhelm the narrative and drive the whole thing off course.

First and foremost, there is a complicated crime or two to be solved, which is exactly what I have come to expect from the Lesley Thomson books I have read to date. However, running alongside that, religion, sexuality, the power of friendships, and the often treacherous twists of family relationships, feature boldly, yet sensitively, with no holds barred.

So, just to help set the scene…

...

The Mermaids are a group of three friends, bound together by their Catholic upbringing and education, who all have an enduring love and fascination for the sea and the Disney film ‘The Little Mermaid’. The problem is, for reasons known only to themselves, there can’t be four of them, so when newcomer Toni arrives at the school having recently lost her father in particularly terrible circumstances, Mags and Freddy let her into the trio and an often volatile, bullying and verbose Karen finds herself excluded to the sidelines. The situation between the once friends becomes evermore acrimonious, so as soon as their education is complete they all go their separate ways and take no active steps to keep in touch with each other.

Freddy Power’s ‘dirty’ secret is discovered by her parents and her staunchly Catholic, physically bullying and coercive father disowns her as a freak of nature and throws her out onto the street, leaving her mother and two brothers to Fred’s tender mercies. After a short stay with Toni, Freddy decides to head for Liverpool, where she ostensibly leads the kind of life she wants, although it takes her some time to realise that she has jumped out of the frying pan into the fire and she is not as free or indeed happy, as she thought she was.

Toni heads off to London where she becomes a police officer, although the lure of Newhaven has her in its grip and she eventually returns to her hometown as a Detective Inspector moving in with one of Freddy’s brothers, Ricky, who together with Freddy’s second brother Andy, run a well respected fishing enterprise made very successful by their father Fred, despite his many other shortcomings as a good human being. The patriarch of the Power family might have ruled with a rod of iron, however, I feel sure he would be turning in his grave if he knew what underhand dealings his two sons were involved in and just how close to the wind, not to mention on the wrong side of the law, they were sailing.

For Mags, unable to come to terms with the burden of her sexuality and the feelings she still harbours towards a certain person, life in Newhaven is a self-enforced solitary affair, revolving around her religion, the church and the library where she works. She does however, form a close bond with Freddy’s mother, Reenie, which is a pivotal part of the storyline further down the road.

For Karen, a failed relationship sees her single-handedly raising her teenage son Daniel, who has been taken on as an apprentice by Ricky and looks up to him as a role model. Karen has become embroiled in one of the more recent and nefarious activities run by the brothers from the cover of the dockyard and is determined to achieve the lifestyle she thinks she deserves, no matter what the cost and by whatever means at her disposal.

No one thinks to try and contact Freddy when her father Fred dies, however, Mags feels strongly that she should know when her mother Reenie is coming to the end of her life, so a vague one-line text is sent. Freddy uses the opportunity to both rush home in the hope of gaining forgiveness from her mother now she is no longer held as an emotional prisoner by Fred, as an opportunity to extricate herself from her own unhappy relationship with her partner and with hope in her heart that an old relationship might be resurrected given the change in societal attitudes over the course of the intervening years.

It is only when all four Mermaids are back on home turf that things quickly go awry. When the scale and depth of the many crimes which have been and are still being committed in the name of family are exposed, the situation takes on dangerous and for some, fatal consequences, with the body count quickly adding up. Toni finds her professional and personal lives merging together and out of control, despite her best efforts to remain objective and focussed on her job, so when her stress levels get to the point where her own, long supressed, mental health issues bubble to the surface and seek to threaten her position, it behoves her fellow investigator to guide her back on track. When the dust finally settles, for many life will never be the same again, but will there be the chance for any new beginnings? Even just a glimmer of hope for closure and happy endings might be good.

You’ll need to read the book for yourself, as that would be telling…

...

This highly textured, character driven, intense storyline, is written across varying timelines and from the perspectives of several different characters. However, the chapters are short and well signposted, so once you have worked out who’s who, which won’t take long, you are all set for a fast-paced race to the finish line, with never a dull moment along the way.

It quickly becomes apparent that just about everyone has, or has had, a secret to keep, no matter on which side of the thin blue line of the law you happened to be. The twists and turns in this storyline just kept on coming and even when I had guessed what a couple of them were ahead of time, there were still some slight deviations which threw me off track all over again. My suspect list had just about everyone’s name on it, although in all fairness, the police didn’t seem to have any more idea about what was going on than I, and it all came down to one ‘blue light’ moment of observation from Toni, to set in motion the collapse of this treacherous house of cards.

The author has included a realistic cross-section of the many modern social mores which beset so many families and extended friendships and which she deals with in a refreshingly honest, no-nonsense way: How can someone hide so piously behind their religious fervour, which from the outside looking in, makes them a devout, loving and forgiving person, the exact opposite of the actual truth? How someone can spend their entire life and the formative years of their children’s lives, bearing the consequences, both mental and physical, of the coercive, gas-lighting, bullying and violent nature of the revered head of the family, without fighting back? The sexual bias of a religious community, inured in their views and intransigent, until the tides of time begin to turn on a much wider level. The guilt of keeping oneself safe from harm, whilst leaving behind those you love, who you know will continue to suffer. The grief and underlying feelings of hatred and abandonment, at being that person left behind and the need to make someone suffer for your pain, even if that means operating below the radar of the law, drawing innocent people into your subterfuge thus causing them suffering, much as it might provide only some small level of recompense and satisfaction for your loss.

The multi-faceted characters are well-defined, fleshed out and given a strong voice with which to tell their story. However, to my mind, they are emotionally starved, which makes them unreliable, complex, volatile and manipulative. Never being truthful or honest to themselves, makes then uncompelling, not authentic and totally unrelatable. However, from author Lesley Thomson’s perspective, those strong feelings were probably just what she had hoped to achieve, so it was a job well done from my perspective.

For me, as an avid ‘armchair traveller’ who has never visited this particular corner of my own country, the Sussex port and fishing town of Newhaven and its immediate surrounding areas comprising the beautiful Downs and villages, was one I could track for myself and become completely immersed in, thanks to the attention to detail and descriptive qualities with which Lesley managed to paint the physical location of her story, offering a real sense of time and place that I could almost step into, with an atmosphere which lingered long after I had closed the final page. However, not being much of a seafarer (I am truly afraid of water and have never learnt to swim), the terror and fear of some of the scenes aboard the Powers fishing vessel, out in open water, at night, during a storm, had me on the edge of my seat.

The only small point I might question, is that surely Toni wouldn’t be allowed to investigate a case in which she was so deeply and personally involved, knowing both the victims and perpetrators as well as she does. However, in the scheme of things it probably isn’t so far fetched as to spoil anything and I was too busy on my own roller-coaster ride of emotions, trying to unravel my list of suspects and work out who did what to whom, where, why and when, that the thought never even occurred to me until I had finished reading.

The thing I liked most about this book was the queer representation, which is pretty rare in crime / mystery / thriller - why do these genres act like their plot alone is enough to excuse them from representative casts? However, the mystery itself wasn't for me. It was fine, but not wow.

I really tried to like this book but I just couldn't get into it. I found it more to do with the friendships - or lack of - of three women who had grown up together and were known as the Mermaids, due to their love of the Disney movie "The Little Mermaid". Rather than crime or murder. I didn't find it so much a thriller as I had hoped.

The three girls - Freddy, Mags and Toni - all attended a convent as adolescents and when Toni's father was murdered she was welcomed into the secret group as a mermaid and existing member Karen was shafted out. Needless to say there was no love lost between Karen and the girls.

Twenty five years later, Toni and Mags are still in Newhaven as is Karen. But Freddy escaped two decades ago to Liverpool where she has lived and worked since. I'm not sure why she was banished from her family, except maybe for the fact that she was gay. I don't know, because I didn't get that far into the book to find out. But I did get the impression that it was because of that. So when she receives a text from Mags to say her mother was ill, Freddy is stunned. She hasn't heard from Mags in two decades. Still, Freddy decides to return home to Newhaven...leaving her somewhat passive aggressive abusive partner Sarah behind. Her return to Newhaven is not welcomed by her younger brother Ricky, but her older brother still holds a soft spot for their older sibling. Sadly Freddy arrives just a moment too late, her mother having passed away that morning.

Toni is now a Detective Inspector with the police and she is called to an accident involving two teenagers who have crashed head on into a concrete pillion. The driver, a 16 year old boy, she recognises as Daniel Tyler who Ricky Power apprenticed on his fishing trawler. He is also the teenage son of Karen Munday, a former Mermaid shafted out when Toni joined. A job she usually delegates to uniform or her DS, Toni decides to break the news to Karen herself. But upon arriving at her dishevelled house, she finds the front door open, the kitchen hob still warm...and Karen on the toilet with her trousers and pants around her knees. Assuming she had crashed out where she now sat, Toni instinctively felt for a pulse...and was surprised to find none. Karen was dead. A stroke? A heart attack? The possibilities ran through Toni's head...until she saw the familiar bruising of ligature marks around her neck. Karen was murdered.

Mags lives a relatively quiet life in Newhaven working at the local library. Listening to the ramblings of locals and keeping up with the current gossip as she scanned books for lending. She has remained friends with the Powers, even after Freddy's departure, and had considered the family matriarch a kind of second mother. She returned to the house to find the once stoic woman barely clinging to life. Although she had text Freddy to say her mother was ill, she didn't let on just how ill she was. She never said she was dying and she wondered whether she should have.

It wasn't too long after this that I gave up. I know Mags held a special place in Freddy's heart, giving the impression that she was her "first love". But then Mags disappears. What happens from then on, I have no idea. I just couldn't connect with the characters. I felt nothing for them. And the story just didn't engage me which was surprising as I have read some of Thomson's other works in the Detective's Daughter series and thoroughly enjoyed them. But this one I found boring. Didn't seem to fit in the thriller genre but felt more like a bad soap.

I seem to be in the minority as I see many 4 and 5 star reviews for the book. Maybe I gave up too early...I don't know...but my motto is "Life is too short to waste time on books you don't enjoy".

I would like to thank #LesleyThomson, #NetGalley and #HeadOfZeus for an ARC of #DeathOfAMermaid in exchange for an honest review.

Lesley Thomson has become synonymous with intelligent and well-written crime fiction and in her latest novel, Death of a Mermaid, she explores family ties, intense and toxic friendships and twisted loyalties in a riveting thriller that kept me gleefully turning the pages.

Toni, Mags and Freddy were inseparable as children. Having formed a close bond as young pupils at a Catholic school, the three girls used to call themselves the Mermaids as they were obsessed with life under water and with the animated film version of the tale. As girls, the three of them had believed that they would be friends forever even when they had shaken off the strict and claustrophobic shackles of their school. But life didn’t turn out that way for the three of them. The bonds that had united them had been severed and the three women had moved on to pastures new and made new lives for themselves. But twenty-two years on, the girls finds themselves back in their hometown of Newhaven where past secrets, old ghosts and dangerous lies are exposed that threaten to destroy the new lives the girls had built from themselves.

Having been ostracised by her parents, Freddy had moved away and made a new life for herself. Freddy had never thought she would return to Newhaven ever again – until out of the blue she gets a text from Mags whom she hasn’t heard from in years telling her that her mother is at death’s door. With her relationship having come to a much-needed end, Freddy finds herself spurred on by her former friend’s text and returns home where she is confronted by her brothers’ hostility and by soul-destroying memories she had thought long-buried. Life in Newhaven does not look like it’s going to be easy, but with nothing to go back home to, she decides to stick around to help her family run the fishery business.

Toni doesn’t know what possessed her to return back to Newhaven. She loved the anonymity of living in London and of not being constantly confronted by old and unpleasant memories. Now, a police officer, Toni finds herself feeling shackled to the past yet again – something which is further confirmed when she comes face to face with her childhood nemesis Karen Munday. Worse, Toni has to tell Karen that her son Daniel has died tragically in a car accident. Only when she goes to tell Karen the devastating news, Toni is left shocked to her very core by the chilling sight that greets her when she knocks on Karen’s door.

Mags has always been the devout Catholic of the group. A friend you can turn to and rely on, Mags always seems ready with a helping hand and a shoulder to cry on. Yet, Mags is a woman who has her own dark secrets and when she goes missing, Freddy find herself determined to uncover the truth behind her disappearance – even if it means coming to terms with the reality about her family.

Lesley Thomson writes with great depth and intelligence about female friendships and family and in Death of a Mermaid she has penned a complex and multi-layered thriller about the fatal consequences of youthful indiscretions, twisted and tangled family dynamics and the dangers of facing up to the past that continues to cement her standing as one of the genre’s most gifted and ingenious writers.

Lesley Thomson creates characters that are brilliantly nuanced and believable which serves to make the terror and jeopardy her protagonists face even more real because the situations they find themselves in could very well happen to somebody we know.

A talented writer who gets better with every book she writes, Lesley Thomson is one of the most exciting crime writers writing today.

This atmospheric story is a fusion of murder mystery, coming of age friendships and noir crime. Set in coastal Newhaven the setting adds to the story's sense of mystery. Freddy and her two friends were inseparable as youngsters, experimenting with life and love.

Told from three points of view there are many suspects in the murder mystery. The plot is cleverly constructed and until the end conceals as much as it reveals. The story explores relatable contemporary issues such as abuse and bullying.

The suspense builds slowly in the detailed plot and nothing is certain until the end.

An absorbing believable story.

I received a copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.

I’m a bit sad to write this review as Lesley Thompson is one of my favourite authors and I adore her detective daughter’s books but this one I really struggled with. It is a good story but it seemed to jump around and I couldn’t really get my teeth into it! All in all a good read but I was so looking forward to this book and it let me down but please give it a go #NetGalley #DeathofaMermaid

The cover of the book and the cover instant intrigued me into wanting to read this book.

Freddy has been banished by her family and now she must return to her family and home at the news of her mothers ill health.

The book opens up well with introducing the characters and setting the scene. I felt the characters are really well developed and you got to know each of these really well and could relate to each other.

The friendship group between Freddy, Mags, Toni and Karen was called the Mermaids, I would have liked to have read more background, maybe had more flashbacks on these 4 and what the mermaids meant to them, just more depth with this side story.

I felt this story was a bit bland for me. I did enjoy reading it as I said the characters are well developed, I felt it was obviously who the killer was and what was going to happen. There were a few twists that did take me by surprise, which is what I really like in a book.

Definitely worth a read and I think especially if you aren't used to this genre you would really like it. I would definitely still read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgally for my copy.

Slow moving, maybe too slow to rake up the tension? I must admit to loving the Detective's Daughter series, so was really looking forward to this book. In my opinion, it isn't as enthralling. I also thought that due to over egging the suspected killer, the identity of the actual killer was as plain as day.

This is one of those books which worms it's way inside your head making you feel that you know know the characters and location so well that you really are part of the story!

Frederica Power left the family home over two decades ago; despite having sworn she would never be back she finds herself on her way after receiving a text from an old friend about her mother's poor health. Nothing much has changed on the surface but her two younger brothers have grown up and now run the family fishery whilst Mags and Toni who, with Freddy, made up an inseparable trio are now distant and not overly friendly. Despite planning a quick exit, Freddy finds herself staying in order to speak with Mags who seems to have gone missing . . .

Lesley Thomson really knows how to get inside a reader's head and under their skin! As Freddy gets drawn back into life in Newhaven, I found myself there too; trying to work out who to believe, who to suspect and desperate to figure out exactly what was going on! Despite encompassing so much into this book, the story flows seamlessly and is bursting with details. I think - at one time or another - I had almost everyone in my sights for some dastardly deed, but the guilty still came as a bit of a shock. Well-written and totally absorbing, this is a cracking thriller which I was totally immersed in and am very happy to give a full five sparkling stars.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley and to Vicky Joss for my spot on this tour; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

I'm not sure if this novel is the beginning of a new series for Lesley Thomson - but if it is, it is a series I will be following.

I love a seaside setting, and this one, set on the Sussex coast is so vivid you can hear the seagulls squealing.

The protagonist(s) were very interesting characters, and you got to know them well over the course of the book. I particularly liked Freddie Power and enjoyed the scenes where she took up her late mother's pet hotel.

The mystery element of the book was well plotted and it had me guessing 'whodunnit' until near the end. I did guess at one plot element reveal, but don't want to speak of it here - so I won't spoil it for any potential reader.

The cover is stunning and exactly fits the subject nature of the novel.

I was not at all surprised that I loved this book. I have read the first novel in the author's 'Detective's Daughter' series and thoroughly enjoyed that one as well. I will endeavor to read more in that series when time permits.

With themes of family loyalty, friendship, betrayal, Catholicism, homophobia, and avarice, this novel has a lot to offer the reader. Highly recommended!

My Rating:

4.5

Favorite Quotes:

A hush fell over the pews. Girls scented trouble. Fights in the convent were supposed to be out of the sight, if not from God, at least from the nuns.

Toni Kemp was watching her. With the twisted perception of a thwarted adolescent, Karen was convinced Toni had engineered her tragedy to worm her way into Mags’s Mermaids.

But the fun of the hidden wore off and hindsight had shown Freddy it was toxic. A love kept secret feels barely true.


My Review:

This was my first exposure to the devious nuanced plotting of Lesley Thomson and I am wondering why I have not noticed her work before as I’ve been missing out. Her word skills are vast with storylines that tangle, mesh, and unravel with cunning and guile. The plot was rather complex and contained several relevant and major social issues from domestic abuse, bullying on several levels, friendship, coming of age, homophobia, dysfunctional family dynamics, mean girls, religious practices and fanaticism, murder, and greed. All the characters, primary, secondary, and even those just briefly passing through, were an interesting mix with unique quirks and odd yet interestingly detailed traits that at times were unexpected and somewhat incongruent while they tickled my gray cells and taunted my curiosity. Such as the detective who had retained the agile shoplifting skills she had honed as a teen for the risky five-finger discount when it came to purchasing chocolates.

The tale was observantly written from multiple POVs with keenly perceptive and insightful glimpses into each prickly character as the story threads slowly built toward a dark and cohesive core. I was holding myself tighter and tighter and nibbling on my cuticles as the tautly written tale built to a climax. And while I had guessed whom the murderer was early on, the rest of my theories and hypothesized motives were incorrect.

In addition to assisting in solving a series of tragic murders, I also gleaned two new additions to my Brit Word List with Roundheads – who were supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War and distinguished by a close-cropped hairstyle; and cottaging – men cruising for or engaging in sexual activity in a public lavatory.

This book took me a while to get in to but I am glad I preserved. I did not particularly like any of the main characters but I thought the plot was good.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Death of a Mermaid is a standalone mystery from bestselling author Lesley Thomson and follows Freddy, Mags and Toni, a gaggle of girls who once attended the local Irish Catholic school together where they were nicknamed ”mermaids” due to their love of the sea and Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Frederica ”Freddy” Power, whose father owned a fishmonger’s in Newhaven, East Sussex, Mags McKee, the unappointed leader of the group and a devout Christian, Toni Kemp, who is now employed as a Detective Inspector in the Sussex police force and Karen Munday, who is very much the odd one out and a girl the rest are really quite fearful of. Twenty years on from her school days Freddy is working in Waitrose in Liverpool when she receives a text message from Mags despite not having heard from her in many years. Her heart sinks when she reads that her mother is due to pass and that she should return home. She intends on leaving Newhaven as soon as possible but when Mags disappears she decides to stay and help in the search, with everyone in the area afraid of what may have happened to her.

This is a captivating mystery-thriller revolving around secrets, betrayal, duplicity, deceit and long-held grudges, as well as family, love, death and grief. I thought the LGBTQ+ representation in this story was superb, which I appreciated, as many crime novels tend to have a sparse or non-existent selection of those within the LGBT community. I must admit at the beginning I was concerned that the characters voices would be too similar and that it wasn't immediately clear the passages that were from the past and those that were present day, however, these quickly became a non-issue within the first few chapters so bear with it and give the story time to develop. I cannot state enough quite how many secrets are involved in this plot, including deep, dark family secrets that have been kept hidden for decades. If you enjoy murder mysteries with an engaging cast of characters, plenty of hidden motives, an interesting setting and writing that after the first few chapters flows well then this is a pacey and compelling one to pick up. Many thanks to Head of Zeus for an ARC.

The Mermaids were a group of school friends in Newhaven. Now grown up, Mags and Toni are still in the town, Freddy had left after a family disagreement years before.

But, Freddy returns as her mother is dying, Toni is a cop and investigating a murder and Mags, has disappeared. What happened in the women’s past that has them worried.

Set in a small fishing community, this is a murder mystery, but at its heart is a tale of friendship, secrets and guilt. It’s a slow burn of a thriller, but so atmospheric and twisty with some real surprises along the way. A thoroughly entertaining read.

Thank you to the author, the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC of the book. This is my honest and unbiased review.

Quite a different read with crime and murder in the center while childhood friendships were also explored. My first foray into author Lesley Thomson gave me a glimpse into the lives of the mermaids set in Newhaven.

3 best friends who called themselves mermaids due to their love for sea and the movie drifted away until Freddie returned home. And Mags disappeared with Toni investigating a murder in town which involved one of Freddie’s brothers. Secrets roiled in their hearts while reality crashed into their lives.

My first book by this author, I was pulled slowly into the lives of the women as the pages turned and body count increased. The prose felt as if it were hiding more than it was revealing. That whetted my curiosity and intense need to know.

The story was slightly slow than what I was used to and gave me more knowledge about fishing industry than I wanted, but the hint of secrets lured me on. Past having its effect on the present was well shown and soon it had the girls racing to get to the truth.

With multiple POV by the girls and their different perspectives soon revealing the twists in their secrets, the book made an interesting twilight read.

Even if I found the characters interesting the story didn't keep my attention and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Once a member of the gang of ‘Mermaids’ at the Catholic school she attended, Freddy Power left her friends and hometown of Newhaven twenty or so years ago, taking a secret with her. A text from Mags - one of the old gang whom she’s not heard from all that time - telling her her mother is ill brings her back home to her estranged family. Toni, another one of the old gang, is now in the police force – and seeing one of Freddy’s brothers – investigating the murder of a fellow pupil. She too has her secrets. After the death of her mother, Freddy is set to leave again, but then Mags goes missing and she decides to stay on and look for her, becoming involved in the family fishing business her brothers inherited from their father. She soon gets caught up in a net of intrigue… (pun intended here); however, Thomson skilfully deploys nautical metaphors throughout (a terror 'tentacled over her, cold and insidious').

I am a huge fan of Lesley Thomson’s Detective’s Daughter series, and this is a gripping and pacy stand-alone novel, which explores the ramifications of childhood experiences on our later life and deals with issues of guilt, (family) secrets and betrayals. The book also has some trademarks of Thomson’s previous work, namely the cleverly plotted story and atmospheric evocation of place, interspersed with gentle humour (in the form of a small pet holiday hotel that Freddy takes over after her mother’s death – Roddy the degu’s care sheet ‘say he bites if you haven’t introduced yourself’).

The story is told via short chapters from the point of view of Freddy, Toni and Mags, a device which works really well, as you get not only the build-up of pieces of the current mystery, but different perspectives on the childhood friendships and fallings out and experiences of school days, as well as their very different grown-up attitudes to the church they were brought up in.

As always, this is an engaging and satisfying page turner from Lesley Thomson, which I thoroughly recommend.

Freddy Power left Newhaven when she was 18 and has never returned...until now. Her old pal, Mags sent her a text to say her mum was ill (although just not how ill) Freddy left her life and girlfriend in Liverpool to make the journey home. She's not sure what sort of reception she'll get as her brothers Andy and Ricky thought she'd left on her own accord rather than her dad forcing her to go all those years ago...

Andy asks her to stay at the house meanwhile and she takes on her mum's Pet Hotel - she used to love looking after the "guests". It's a total trip down memory lane for Freddy - her gang - The Mermaids - Mags, Toni and Karen, although Karen's not been a mermaid for years. They all loved the sea and the Disney film - The Little Mermaids.

Karen works for the Power brothers doing the fish round. She seems totally minted - where is the money coming from? Toni is a cop and in a relationship with Ricky, Freddie's younger brother. She's investigating a murder and a suicide which is a little close to home. When Mag's goes missing Freddie is beside herself and calls on Toni to help.,..

It's a story about family, love, old friends as well as betrayal and secrets. I absolutely loved it.

The characters in the book were very engaging and kept my interest the whole way through. I liked the plot and I will be definitely looking at buying more of her books.

It is probably evident by now that I have fairly particular standards when it comes to mystery novels. I mean, I’m sure I say it often enough. And, very sadly, this one just did not really meet those.

The novel really follows three characters, childhood friends who have grown apart. The first is Freddy, who is a lesbian and was kicked out of her home by her father. The second is Toni, a police detective who is now in a relationship with one of Freddy’s brothers. The final is Mags, a devout Christian who Freddy loved as a girl. Following Freddy’s mother’s death, she comes back to town and takes up a role in her family’s fishery business.

What I have to say first is that the writing just didn’t work for me, so, as ever, everything subsequent I add should be viewed through that lens. Here, it just felt a little too clunky for me to properly get into. But that is, of course, a personal issue, so feel free to ignore it when deciding whether to read this.

Because I didn’t like the writing from early on, I was sort of skimming it after a couple of pages (yeah, I know, it’s bad). But even so, it was, initially at least, somewhat confusing. That did sort itself out, and I think it was mostly because it wasn’t clear which parts were in the past as recollections and which were present-day.

And then there’s the mystery. It wasn’t a bad one – actually it was probably the best part of the story – but the writing made it hard for me to enjoy it (I told you to view it all through a lens). The culprit wasn’t a surprise as such (after a certain point), but it was a neat twist, all in all.

The final point I have is about the rep. Firstly, the homophobic character himself turns out to be gay (thanks a lot), but then also there’s no happy ending for the lesbian character(s). Like, I don’t need one here, but I would have liked one, to be honest, and it left me disliking the book even further.

But most of this does stem from not liking the writing so, if it sounds like a book for you, ignore this and give it a go.