At a friend’s drinks party, biographer Rona Parish is approached by a young pregnant woman named Zara Crane, who asks Rona if she will help her trace her father. Rona is just finishing a series of articles on the town of Buckford and agrees to meet the girl to discuss the matter. She is at first reluctant to take on the task when she discovers that Zara’s birth mother had been murdered in her bath twenty-five years earlier, but her curiosity gets the better of her. So despite her husband Max and her friends warning her to leave well alone, she embarks on the investigation. Rona starts to delve into the background of Gemma Grant, Zara’s mother, and although she feels that she is making little progress she is warned off. When someone she has interviewed meets with an accident, she begins to wonder if she has rattled a lion’s cage.
I enjoyed this book; there is a good blend of mystery and family concerns woven
into the story. Rona’s twin sister Lindsey is separated from her husband and
although she appears to have a new man in her life, he has not yet been introduced
to the family - Rona suspects he is not free. Her parents too seem to be having
problems in which Rona suspects Catherine Bishop may figure. The book kept me
guessing right to the end. Recommended.
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Lizzie Hayes
Earlier books in the series are Brought to Book, and Jigsaw. There
is also a 14-book series featuring DCI David Webb.