‘A Cursed Inheritance’ by Kate Ellis

Published by Soundings Audio Books.

ISBN 1-84559-286-7 (10 Cassettes)

Read by Peter Wickam

 

The death of a journalist researching the case of the brutal murder of the Harford family at 16C Potwoolstan Hall in Devon in 1985 reawakens all the horror of the case that had, with the passage of time, become folklore. The Hall - now a New Age healing centre - becomes again the centre of a murder case.

 

Investigating is DI Wesley Peterson., who approaches the case in his usual calm and sympathetic manner, somewhat different in temperament to his wife Pam who is her usual discontented self  - even more so as Neil, Wesley’s University friend, has gone off to a dig in Virginia ,USA, where there they are uncovering the remains of an early English settlement.  Interestingly, the early remains link back to

Potwoolstan Hall and also disturbingly to Neil’s own ancestors. 

 

The murder of the Harford family was at the time laid at the door of the housekeeper, but as Wesley investigates the murder of the journalist he becomes convinced that the journalist during his research of the case uncovered evidence that the house- keeper Martha had not been the killer, and that maybe the killer is still out there.  He needs to trace Martha’s daughter and to speak with the only survivor of the family massacre, Arbel Harford.

 

This is a fascinating mystery. There are many strands, some that reach far back into the past. The story is told from multiple points of view, including one from the past. All the books I have read by Kate Ellis have been good, but this one is particularly absorbing. Highly recommended.

 

It is said that one can sometimes do a job too well and that maybe pertinent to Peter Wickham  he is to me Peter (Mad Max) Maxwell of Leighford High, and it was odd to find him in this setting. That aside, he is an excellent reader.

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Lizzie Hayes