Murder at the Old Abbey

[cornerofmadness]

Murder at the Old Abbey by Pippa McCathie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I didn't get to read book one but there's plenty ways into this one so you don't miss that. It's setting is in Wales, a country I've been too a few times and love. Favia Havard was once a police detective who was framed for a crime. Matt Lambert (her former apprentice, now inspector) cleared her name but she turned to a second career as an artist. Matt still comes to her with cases as she knows everyone and definitely does in this case. Carandoc Mansell was the rather unlikeable head of a long important lineage who delighted, it seems in making sure his kids (grown adults) didn't inherit anything they wanted in his will (I had a relative like this). His death was no accident. We have his meek daughter (whose book Favia is ilustrating) , his son who married badly, his horse crazy wife and her racist thug of a brother, his pub keeping illegitimate son plus his newly found illegitimate Hindu granddaughter (whose grandmother might be the only person he ever loved)

There are plenty of red herrings. For me the will they won't they age gapped romance thing with Havard and Lambert got old quick but at least it seems to have ended. (I'm no fan of the trope) I did really like both Favia (and her friends) and Matt so I'd love to see more of this.



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Nightshade

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Nightshade by John Saul

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I chose the wrong time to read this but I'm not sure there is ever a good time for me to read this one (I was health care worker severely injured by a dementia patient so while you can't blame them, there is some PTSD around that). Speaking of trigger warnings: on page child abuse in just a few paragraphs in, abusive parent, intimated incest, dementia, murder.

Joan Hapgood is insistent in moving her mother Emily, into her husband's home. Emily is in the more severe side of dementia including hallucinations, agitation and violence. But even without that she is the type of mother who chose a golden child and her other child in the house thrall who can do nothing right (something I've seen in my extended family). Joan is not the chosen one. Her dead sister Cynthia is. Emily keeps Cynthia's room as it was the day she left, convinced she's coming home. SHe also hates Joan's son, Matt, constantly referring to him as Joan's bastard.

When her husband, Bill, wants to put Emily in a home where she can be properly cared for, Joan refuses. She has deluded herself into thinking her mother can be brought out of her dementia. Emily is convinced Cynthia has come home and something definitely has. Something that might be Cynthia's ghost, something that wants Matt for starters.

Joan is a character you want to slap hard and then just keep slapping for prioritizing her mother over her son and husband (especially her son who is obviously in free fall and needs help) Yes, there is that whole complicated Stockholm SYndrome/self preservation thing going on with Joan but how many times can you put your own child second?

Things continue to go from bad to worse but there's an odd narrative distance in this. We're told more than we're shown which is odd for a story teller of Saul's caliber. This isn't his best work but it's still creepy enough if that's what you're looking for.



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Twisted Shadows

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Twisted Shadows by Allie Therin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Thanks to Netgalley for the arc. I have such conflicted feelings about this one. Don't get me wrong I loved it but there are some glaring flaws. What isn't a flaw is Therin's absolute commitment to the empathy related worldbuilding in this. There is such dedication to it (such as Reece and other empaths being unable to even watch cartoon violence) that you can almost believe it's real (in other words it doesn't turn off and on like with Star Trek's Deanna Troi though her life is much easier. As much as I'd love to think we'd accept true empathic powers like everyone does Troi but we all know it would be like Reece Davis world)

Note: this is book two and you absolutely MUST read book one or you will be lost. THis is not a mystery you can pick up otherwise. (and it's really good anyhow). My issue with this is it does start out as a mystery, a Canadian empath is killed in New England so Evan Grayson is sent to investigate because as 'the dead man' he handles most empath crime. He lost his emotions (and had his body changed to be superhuman thanks to his empath brother, which is also happening to Reese's sister Jamie) He knows the anti-empath group he works with can't be trusted.

Evan also knows Reece shouldn't want to be with him but 'Care Bear' as he calls him definitely does. So my issue? The mystery barely takes up half the book. This one goes hard core will they/won't they have sex romance and that is really the bulk of the book. I certainly don't mind it (figuring there has to be a way even if touching Reece will knock him unconscious) I love Evan and Reece but it does serve to make the book feel very unbalanced plot wise.

Evan also calls Reece 'Bad Decisions Bear' which is key because way too many times Reece does something that has him toeing the too stupid to live line. I wish he would think things through better (or that Therin could find other ways to put him in danger other than Reece being utterly stupid or impulsive)

It's clear someone is gunning for Reece (and the fortress the corrupted empaths are being kept in). Reece is of course one step from corruption himself and Evan is turning a blind eye to Reece's developing power other than admitting he might have to take Reece down in spite of his physical attraction to him (his body remembers even if his brain can't register love any more)

The other issue was the ultimate bad guy is supposed to (I think) by a mystery but is so blatantly obvious it kinda burned. That said I was happy to see who it was. Without spoilers, the ending is a cliffhanger (boo) and takes Reece to a place that in theory he can't return from so I'm wondering if the next book is also the last (I'm not sure if this is meant to be a series or a trilogy but I could see it going either way). I do love the characters (all of them including Diesel) so I'm very much looking forward to the next one (which I know will be something of a wait since I'm reading this early)



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