I decided to request this book to delve into a new genre, other than my main staple - fantasy. I had a difficult time getting through this book, I believe due to the fact that I haven't read much in the genre of Historical Mystery. I found it interesting, however not my style. I'm sure those who frequent this genre will enjoy this book!

This delightful, golden age style mystery is set in the 1920’s household of the Linwood family, whose giant, unwelcoming mansion sits on top of a Yorkshire cliff. As the book opens, the head of the family, Sir Lawrence Linwood, has been found murdered by our old friend “the blunt instrument” and his three children are heading home for the memorial service.

The three – Alan, an archeologist; Roger, an engineer; and Caroline, a journalist – have all been adopted and as the story of their childhood begins to emerge, it’s clear that they mainly had each other to rely on. Their father, in this retrospective portrait, was apparently a cruel martinet who scorned the idea of feelings, kindness and compassion. It’s made them uncommunicative on a deep level with one another. Their father had set everything up as a competition.

And the ultimate competition, it turns out, was his will. The children are charged with solving the crime, and whoever solves it gets the whole estate. To the annoyance of the local constabulary, the three do set out to solve the crime themselves, each finding different strands of their lives and the way those strands relate to their father’s murder.

On the outside is their mother, someone who appears to have been pretty uninvolved in their childhood. She was trained as a doctor before marriage and so was handy when bandages or stitches were required, but otherwise was absent from their lives and made no comment about their treatment at the hands of their father. The three adult children tend to ignore her.

The set up is quite golden age, as is the setting of the old manor house. But this is a novel written by a 21st century author, and as the crime is unraveled, so are the personalities of the Linwood family. Each one of the children is distinct and interesting and the reader gets to know them better and better as the story progresses. As the stakes increase – not merely the solving of their father’s murder, but the question of their adoptions – so does their reliance on one another. In the 21st century, we might think of this as “finding themselves” but in the 1920’s, it’s more of an explication of the specific personalities of each of Lord Linwood’s children.

The writing is crisp and the plot, complete with various surprises and twists, is well conceived and clever. I very much enjoyed this book and meeting the Linwoods, though I do think there was a slight issue here with pacing. It somehow was slightly sluggish, though overall, this really was an enjoyable if somewhat leisurely read.

Unnatural Ends is a good old fashioned ‘whodunnit?’ murder mystery. It is well written and the characters are all interesting as well as a little annoying (in an endearing way)!
I loved the twists and turns and thought it was a very cleverly written book. I usually don’t care ‘who did it’, but this one had me hooked!
I look forward to recommending this great book to our library patrons.

The children of the Linwood Hall are called home to bury Sir Lawrence Linwood, their father.

Caroline, the youngest travels home from Paris, where she is a journalist; Alan, the eldest son, arrives home from Peru, where he is an archaeologist, and Roger now lives in England, he is an engineer.

The year is 1921, the First World War ended just under 3 years ago, and they are all still carrying mental scars.

From that moment on, everything became really odd. Everyone finds out their father was killed at the reading of the will.

He leaves the following message in his will:

In the event that my death should be due to unnatural causes, I charge my children with the task of identifying my killer.

The truths about their adoption and the secrets they weren't supposed to know are revealed to Alan, Roger, and Caroline as a result.

Early in the novel, I thought there were too many moving parts to the tale and a lot of strange, unrelated things being revealed, but it only enhanced the intrigue.

These moving elements are what start to unwind the microscopic strands.

This historical murder mystery was presented from the perspectives of each of the children, which initially felt a bit disjointed but ended up being a very smart approach to weave the tale of what it was like to be raised by their adopted father at Linwood Hall and what that experience was like.

The Linwood family is going to stay with me for a while. I highly recommend this to 'Whodunnit' fans of the original masters of crime mysteries. Enjoyable.

I would also like to thank #Inkshares and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this DRC copy in exchange for my honest review. This book is due for release on 23 May 2023.

#UnnaturalEnds #NetGalley

A mystery that was slow to start but ultimately compelling. When Sir Lawrence Linwood is found viciously beaten and murdered in his own home, his three children return home to grieve, and read the will. Unfortunately for them, the stipulation Sir Linwood has left in his will is that his heir will be the one who solves his murder. As one could imagine, this leads to lots of distrust - of each other and the townspeople. But ultimately, it leads the children to question the secrets surrounding their birth and their past.

WOW!!
Give this book to anyone that likes a mystery that never ends!! This is a story that I visualize in a movie theater or in a Netflix show. Highly rich written and full of complex items and characters this is a book that will ruin your nights for sure.

Loved this book. If you like a murder mystery with a twist or two then this is the book for you. When Caroline, Roger and Alan are summoned back to the family home on the death of their father all is not quite what it seems.

Their father has been murdered and when the will is read, they find that the house has not been left to Alan as would be expected for the eldest son. Instead, there's a surprise clause in the will stating that whoever unmasks the murderer will inherit the whole estate.

As their investigation progresses, each of the Linnwood siblings uncovers surprising information about their origins eventually causing them to work together rather than in competition to solve the mystery. Well worth reading and full of twists and turns.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley and am providing my honest review.

Though the murder mystery element of this book is not original, the characters and how they come to be family is deliciously and despicably original. Each of the three children finding out their origin story is the real mystery rather than who killed dear-old-daddy. Their choices are filled with the echoes of their father's attempts to control and restrict not only their decisions, but their thinking and their ability to interact with one another.

I truly enjoyed Christopher Huang's mystery, which ultimately shows that one person's megalomaniacal quest for control creates too many victims for the good of the world. I have recommended this novel to my students who love mysteries and who love strong character development.

Really well written, interesting characters and good twists. Made me want to go find the author’s first book.

A controlling and demanding member of the English Aristocracy is killed in a grisly and mysterious manner. A stipulation in his will declares that whichever of his three adopted children solves his murder will inherit the entirety of Linwood Hall and the estate. The hunt for his killer reveals more about the three siblings than they expect. Secrets from both their past and their father's abound in every corner of this debut novel.

This book had so much potential. I really did love the three siblings, Arthur, Roger, and Caroline. I also really loved Roger's girlfriend Iris. The setting of Linwood Hall is atmospheric and perfect for this 1920's mystery. The premise of the novel is also highly intriguing and the whodunit kept me turning pages.

I do think, unfortunately, that it needs more tightly edited. There is far to much repetition as we switch POV from characters so often. They circle the same places, the same events and it's all rehashed as we get different narrators, but it becomes frustrating. Yes - I know what the convent looks like, thanks Arthur and Caroline. I was also confused why there were so many flippin' Shakespeare references. It was distracting to the plot. And the moment Caroline tries to cast all the characters in King Lear? I mean, why?

Finally, the big reveal at about 85% of the book was not a surprise to me. Because one word was used early on in the book and used only once but it gave that part of the plot away. No spoilers here but I'd love to know if anyone else had the same experience.

Ultimately, I enjoying this novel but it could have been tightened up significantly to create an even better debut. There is much to look forward to from Mr. Huang's work is he can trim his work down and not pack it with the superfluous. I will certainly be recommending this to people because I liked the mystery at the books core.

Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang was not for me. It is a murder mystery set in the roaring 20s so I had hoped for a clue type aesthetic but it ended up boring me instead. The book is full of details that overwhelm the plot and none of the characters are especially interesting to me. I ended up DNFing the book at around 40% because it could not keep my attention and felt sluggish to read through.

I enjoyed Unnatural Ends! It has family secrets, drama, murder mystery, really well thought-out characters and storylines. All of the different pieces can be a bit confusing at first but they all came together nicely.

I wanted to love this one. The premise soundless intriguing, but the storyline just did not pull me in.

I started and stopped this books numerous times because I just couldn't get into the story. On top of feeling disengaged, there seemed to be a lot going on and it was hard to keep track of what was happening.

Overall, it was only an okay read for me.

An intriguing mystery set in 1920s England. This is a book Agatha Christie would write. While the narrative starts off simply enough with the three siblings and their family's solicitor, by the end there's been so many side characters and subplots introduced that I sort of lost track of it. The ending, though, was satisfying, if only a bit predictable.

Sir Linwood of Lindwood Hall is found dead in his study. Lady Lindwood calls for her three children to travel back home in order to put their father to rest. Once at home, the three find out that Sir Linwood was murdered by a medieval mace, and that it is their father's wishes that whoever shall solve the mystery of his death shall become the sole heir to Linwood Hall.

The siblings; Alan, Roger and Caroline, must now investigate what exactly happened to their father while the mystery leads them down suspicious paths.

My thoughts:
I loved the setting of this book, the Yorkshire Moors!!! What a beautiful place to start a story off. I also liked the time this book was written in. It was a very interesting read. The chapters didn't have numbers though which was confusing at first and I felt that there was just alot of background information. I don't think I was in the mood to read a historical mystery so it took me a little longer to get through but I did enjoy it and would like to read it again someday.

This was great! I loved the mystery, I loved the atmosphere, but most of all I loved how all of the characters felt super developed!

I really enjoyed this historical mystery/family drama set in 1920s England.

Sir Lawrence Linwood, tyrannical patriarch of Linwood Hall, is dead…bludgeoned to death in his locked study. His three adopted children return home only to find an unusual stipulation in his will…whoever finds the killer, takes it all. And so the plot thickens.

Yes, this is a classic murder mystery, but even more it’s a finely-tuned family drama, focusing on Alan’s, Roger’s and Caroline’s childhoods and how they were shaped and molded by their parents, especially their father. So not only was I sucked in by the intriguing mystery, but the family dynamics kept me riveted as well. Smart, ingeniously-crafted, twists and turns and well-developed characters…what’s not to love? And I definitely did.

Highly recommended.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Inkshares for providing the free early arc of Unnatural Ends for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Started out good but went downhill from there. By the time it got to the the end just didn't care anymore.
Characters need a lot more depth,and development.
Thanks NetGalley for advance copy

Yorkshire, 1920, adopted, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, lawyers, amateur-sleuth, suspense, suspicion****

The Linwood family is upended and exposed by the bludgeoning murder of Sir Laurence in the family home in rural Yorkshire. The three children were adopted and are all grown now, but the will brings an interesting surprise. Each of the children has reason to discover the murderer and the sleuthing becomes entangled in the plot twists and red herrings. The characters are very well developed and interesting.
I requested and received an EARC from Inkshares via NetGalley.

This was an engaging mystery/thriller novel to read. I enjoyed how the characters (each of the children) were flushed out where we got to know each of their personalities, and that I actually had trouble figuring out who the murderer was! I love murder mysteries that keep you guessing, that offer new clues that change the course of the story and your thinking. What I also appreciated from this novel was the diversity of the characters but that their ethnicities did not define their characters.