Teenage Frances Adams goes to the village fête with her friends, where they all have their fortunes told by the medium in a booth. It’s all in good fun, until the fortune-teller gives Frances a sinister, mysterious prediction. From that day forward she is convinced she will be murdered and determines to discover her killer — hopefully before they can complete the job.
Now 60-odd years later she owns a country estate and a home in Chelsea, London. It’s the latter where her great niece Annie has lived hearing stories about her eccentric aunt. A solicitor’s letter arrives summoning her to Castle Knoll to finally meet this aunt and discuss updates to Aunt Frances’ will. Annie dutifully heads to the country village but upon arrival finds that Aunt Frances has suddenly died — and it might be murder.
I stand for a second in front of the tall oak doors, and I run a hand over the ornate carvings on them. Vines, brambles, and intricate scrollwork come together in a way that makes my mind feel like I’m falling into a maze. I’m nervous to finally meet this elusive great aunt who suddenly summoned me after twenty-five years. But it’s an excited kind of nervous, like waiting for the results of a job interview where you felt you did really well.
When I press on the brass doorbell, a complex pattern of chimes resonates from deep within the bowels of the house. A silence stretches out that feels too long, so Oliver tries the heavy cast-iron door knocker. Three rich thuds echo from it, booming so loudly they could almost be gunshots. ~Pg. 34
It turns out Aunt Frances had a backup plan — she would bequest her sizeable estate only to Annie, or her cousin Oliver, if they solved her murder. If the cops solve it first, no one gets anything. And they have just a week to figure out the mystery.
The ticking clock adds a level of gamification to an already unusual murder mystery. Clues are everywhere. Villagers all have different reasons for helping Annie or Oliver, or no one. Annie is also at a disadvantage having never met her great aunt, or knowing any of the players in this absurd drama.
The mystery has a sufficient number of reasonable suspects, a couple of red herrings, and two engaging narrators in Annie and Aunt Frances. It’s a compelling read — I finished it in one weekend afternoon — and I hope the author will continue to write mystery novels.
The first page bears a heading — The Castle Knoll Files, September 10, 1966. She begins: I‘m writing this all here because I just know there will be things I’ve seen that mights matter further down the road. At barely two pages in, I find myself gripping the sides of the book, bewitched by her curling teenage handwriting and the account written inside. An hour later, I’m still reading it. ~Pg. 155-6
There are comparisons to be made with Knives Out, though this is less slapstick. It more closely mirrors the recent Hulu series Death and Other Details. Deep family secrets create a domino effect no one could have predicted — except maybe a fortune teller at an English country fair.
My thanks to Dutton for the review copy. Listen to an excerpt.
Publisher: Dutton (March 26, 2024)
Language: English
Hardcover: 368 pages
ISBN-10: 0593474015
Would love to read this one.