Synopsis/blurb…..
A long-lost friend is
a stranger you think you know
Eden was its name.
"An alternative school for happy children," said the brochure.
"A load of hippies running wild in the woods," said the locals. After
a suicide it closed its doors and the children scattered.
Thirty years later,
it's a care home; its grounds neglected and overgrown, its only neighbour
Gloria Harkness, who acts as tenant-caretaker in a rundown farmhouse to be
close to her son. Nicky lives in the home, lighting up Gloria's life and
breaking her heart every day.
Nicky and a ragbag of
animals aren't enough to keep loneliness at bay, and when Gloria's childhood
friend and secret sweetheart, Stephen "Stig" Tarrant, turns up at her
door one night, all she can see is the boy she knew. She lets him in.
Stig's being stalked
by an Eden girl, he says. She has goaded him into meeting her at the site of
the suicide. Except that suddenly, after all these years, the dead are
beginning to speak and suicide is not what they say.
When the children of
Eden were sent out into the world they took a secret with them. And someone is
making sure they take it to the grave.
Initially a stop-start kind of read for me, read 30 pages in
October then stopped. Left it a month, restarted at the beginning, read 40
pages, put it aside then picked it back up at the end of January. All of which
might lead you to believe I didn’t really enjoy it. Quash that notion, as once
I got into it properly, I enjoyed the story and mystery, more so than the
characters.
Events of the past - a child’s death at a hippy-style, knit
your own yoghurt while hugging a tree school – resurface in the present day.
One of the children involved twenty-eight years ago, Stephen turns up at the
remote dwelling of Gloria on a dark, filthy night in rural Scotland.
Gloria wasn’t involved in the incident years ago, but in
spite of a few issues of her own, she decides to help Stephen. Gloria’s
troubles revolve around her severely disabled son, Nicky. Nicky is housed up
the road at a care home, the site of the former hippy school. Gloria is
constantly fearful of his continued welfare particularly in the future, should
Miss Drumm, another resident at the home and her benefactor of sorts pass on. She’s
on her own. Her former husband, Duggie had difficulty accepting Nicky’s
condition and the marriage didn’t survive.
Stephen has been in contact with another former pupil at the
school, April Cowan and is due to meet up with her. With Gloria in tow they descend
on the meeting place and discover April’s corpse. Panicking they flee and don’t
inform the police. When Gloria returns later, the body has been moved and
Stephen is soon named as the prime suspect in April’s murder.
Who is trying to set up Stephen and why? Gloria, while
Stephen plays house, starts trying to track down the former pupils in an effort
to understand what is going on.
Amateur sleuthing, loneliness, issues of trust, concern for
family, a bit of an adventure, secrets, more deaths (mainly historic) involving
the former pupils of the school, and a solution.
Our main character, Gloria was a surprise. Initially I had
the impression she was timid and insular, but as the story progressed she
became more confident and assertive, not above a bit of subterfuge and
deception in an effort to get some answers, and a lot less of a shrinking
violet than I expected.
Enjoyable in the main, though I kind of found the whole
raison d’etre for events a tad of a stretch. The author did have me guessing as
to the identity of our guilty party, I had two candidates penciled in along
the way, but was hopelessly wrong-footed.
4 from 5
Scottish author, Catriona McPherson has written the Dandy
Gilver series of historical mysteries, as well as about six standalone novels.
Her website is here.
Read in January, 2017
Published 2015 (my copy 2016)
Page count – 294
Source – review copy from Little Brown Book Group (thanks
Helen)
Format - paperback
Blog friend Moira @ Clothes in Books, reviewed this one here.
I like McPherson's work as a rule, Col, so it's good to hear you mostly enjoyed this one. It sounds like an interesting premise, too. And just goes to show that sometimes, coming back to a book pays off.
ReplyDeleteMargot sometimes I try the wrong book at the wrong time! It was well worth returning to.
DeleteVery nice review, Col. I definitely want to read one of McPherson's standalone novels, maybe this one.
ReplyDeleteTracy cheers, I think you might enjoy this one.
DeleteA very interesting premise. I read one of McPherson's Dandy Gilver novels and it was pretty well written (although otherwise not really for me), so I may well give this one a go.
ReplyDeleteI think you might it enjoy it if you ever give it a go. I'll pass on the Dandy's though.
DeleteCol – Thanks for the review. I am not familiar with McPherson’s work.
ReplyDeleteElgin, this one has been my only experience with her writing.
DeleteCol, having read your interview with author Catriona McPherson first, I'd be interested in reading her historical mysteries.
ReplyDeletePrashant, if I'm brutally honest I'm not the world's biggest fan of the historical mystery.
DeleteThanks for the shoutout, and yes, this book is where the CiB/CCL crossover happens! Glad you enjoyed it too, I thought it was a corker. (You probably didn't appreciate how good the clothes were, but we'll let you off.)
ReplyDeleteI'll take your word for it on the clothing (as always)! I would keep an eye out for further books from her, as long as they were standalone and contemporary.
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