Thoughts after finishing...
Chris, recently widowed, is the main narrator. He has lived in California for years working as a composer. He is compelled to move back to England after the death of his beloved wife. He is exploring his house and his feelings and establishing new relationships. He is still composing and working and dealing with life on his own. The house he bought has a bit of a sad history and because he has time he sets out on a mission to find out what happened to the owners of the house in the early 1940's. He only really knows that Helen Fox was accused, found guilty, and hung for murdering her husband. Chris sort of accidentally falls into the belief that Helen was innocent. He talks to people, he researches, he even goes to Paris to talk to Helen's young...at the time...lover. He continues to believe that Helen was falsely accused.
He is over the top excited when he meets Helen's granddaughter and she gives him Helen's journal...this will lead to Chris's conclusion about his discoveries...which turn out to be so wrong...but leads him to the one person who finally helps him understand what really happened...and now we reach the part where mum is the word for what happens in this story...I just can't tell you...I wouldn't want to spoil this luscious book for any reader!!!
There is also a freaking unbelievable twist at the end that literally gob smacked me...I never saw it coming.
The book is full of all of the yummy things that make an English mystery so delightful...especially if you love English mysteries. Tea and bitters and Game Pie and pubs and Ploughman's meals and cheeses and pudding after dinner.
Sigh...pudding...
This book was so tense and warm and mysterious...with just the right amount of mystery.
Oh...it was also told in alternating voices...Helen's from the past and Chris's present life.
Oh...again...this is a book to be savored, read slowly and enjoyed thoroughly...I loved his writing style.
I pronounce this one fabulous Englishy mystery.
You should really read it.
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