04-04-2004, 09:16 PM
Phew! I've finally managed to finish this! What a good book!
The author had obviously researched her subject well, and all the different twists were very well managed. The basic plot is as follows.. (from Nikkinaz' synopsis earlier; )
At a Manhattan party, fashion photographer Maggie Holloway is reunited unexpectedly with her former stepmother. Both women are thrilled to meet again, and quickly resume their friendship. But when Maggie arrives for dinner one evening at Nuala's home, she finds her dead. And stranger still, she learns that only days before her death, Nuala had changed her will, leaving everything to Maggie... The one condition is that Maggie occasionally visit an old friend, Greta Shipley, and it is when she accompanies Greta to visit Nuala's grave that she discovers something is badly wrong. When Greta also dies suddenly, of supposedly natural causes, Maggie's suspicions are only confirmed. What Maggie doesn't realize is that she, too, has become a target for the killer, and that each clue she uncovers brings her closer to a terrifying fate....
I found the writing clear and crisp, and I was able to follow it easily, although at times all the characters and their relationships to each other did get a tad confusing. This is my first MHC book, and found it quite good. I did wonder how plausible it would be for a stepmother to actually confide her suspicions as to the retirement home to someone she hadn't known for over 30 years. And I seemed to have missed why the murderer actually placed the bells on the graves.
It was a good suspense thriller, not letting the reader know who the perpetrater was until the last moment, the plot being very skillfully worked.
I think that her beginning where the killer has placed her in such danger especially good - a great way to maintain the reader's interest throughout the book.
Out of curiosity, I would read another of her books, but she's no Dick Francis. (my all-time favourite)
Did anyone pick up on the relevance of the Title of the book to its plot? I didn't, and not knowing it is very annoying...
The author had obviously researched her subject well, and all the different twists were very well managed. The basic plot is as follows.. (from Nikkinaz' synopsis earlier; )
At a Manhattan party, fashion photographer Maggie Holloway is reunited unexpectedly with her former stepmother. Both women are thrilled to meet again, and quickly resume their friendship. But when Maggie arrives for dinner one evening at Nuala's home, she finds her dead. And stranger still, she learns that only days before her death, Nuala had changed her will, leaving everything to Maggie... The one condition is that Maggie occasionally visit an old friend, Greta Shipley, and it is when she accompanies Greta to visit Nuala's grave that she discovers something is badly wrong. When Greta also dies suddenly, of supposedly natural causes, Maggie's suspicions are only confirmed. What Maggie doesn't realize is that she, too, has become a target for the killer, and that each clue she uncovers brings her closer to a terrifying fate....
I found the writing clear and crisp, and I was able to follow it easily, although at times all the characters and their relationships to each other did get a tad confusing. This is my first MHC book, and found it quite good. I did wonder how plausible it would be for a stepmother to actually confide her suspicions as to the retirement home to someone she hadn't known for over 30 years. And I seemed to have missed why the murderer actually placed the bells on the graves.
It was a good suspense thriller, not letting the reader know who the perpetrater was until the last moment, the plot being very skillfully worked.
I think that her beginning where the killer has placed her in such danger especially good - a great way to maintain the reader's interest throughout the book.
Out of curiosity, I would read another of her books, but she's no Dick Francis. (my all-time favourite)
Did anyone pick up on the relevance of the Title of the book to its plot? I didn't, and not knowing it is very annoying...