1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tame and inoffensive, but no way a crime book, January 22, 2001
Some crime writers are just too understated for readers keen on continuous blood, gore and action - Patricia Highsmith comes to mind, a writer with whom this author has been (inaccurately) compared. This is the only Margaret Yorke book I've read, and I just don't get the purpose of it.
The book centers around Nina, a passive, restrained Englishwoman of small horizons - just the kind of person who might read this book, in fact. Stunned by her husband's desertion of her for the predatory and pregnant "Miss Kitty-Cat", Nina accepts a house-sitting job at an obligatorily creepy English Manor house. She gets anonymous phone calls, suspects someone of some murders that are happening at the time, discovers a family secret, sees an accidental death - and that's it.
Margaret Yorke writes well, and makes us understand her characters, despite a plot so bland it just passed me by - she has written heaps of books, so maybe this one is just an aberration. There's none of the intricate detail and plotting of PD James, but if you want a gentle and genteel female self-discovery book with just a hint of murder in the background, then you might enjoy this. But if you want suspense and excitement, read elsewhere.
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