Best known for The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware writes a chilling story of secrets and identity in The Death of Mrs. Westaway. Harriet Westaway is a poor, struggling young woman who reads tarot cards. She borrowed money from a loan shark so now she’s being threatened because she can’t make the payments. Harriet receives a formal letter from a lawyer stating she’s a beneficiary in her grandmother’s will. Harriet’s grandmother died years ago, so she thinks the lawyer has her confused with the real Harriet Westaway. But, Harriet needs the money so she goes to find out what’s in the will. Then the murders start.
Ruth Ware is not Agatha Christie. I figured out what was going on fairly early in this book. I’m guessing most of you would identify the murderer. GRADE: C
Wow, that was brief.
Steve, WORDPRESS glitched me again!
What Steve said. Surely you can give us some details.
I know, and don’t call you Shirley.
Jeff, Shirley (aka, WORDPRESS) took my words away!
I just read the recaps and readers’ reviews of three of her books on Amazon, and have no hesitation in saying, Not. For. Me. If I want to read about a drunken, whiny, unlikable and unreliable Englishwoman, well…I don’t, so that isn’t an issue. GIRL ON THE TRAIN, WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, etc. have a lot to answer for IMHO. But there are too many things I do want to read.
Jeff, THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY is being marketed as a brilliant classic-style mystery. It isn’t.
I think this is a placeholder.
Patti, sorry for the WORDPRESS glitch. It happens every so often.
Fortunately it has never happened to me.
Rick, WORDPRESS sometimes eats my homework.
Sorry—she’s just not for me; she’s another Sophie Hannah, imho. I read Ruth Ware’s first book which had (a) characters who were far too young for their achievements (a bestselling author at 22!); a villain who couldn’t have been more obvious if they’d had a ten-foot I AM THE VILLAIN neon sign flashing over their head; and (c) a plot that relied far too much on cell phones going dead, not getting service, being used by the wrong person, etc. I started her second book (yeah, I never learn) and I wasn’t ten pages in and the cell phone was an issue again! I guess the cell phone is to Ware what a pistol was to Chekhov: never show it in the first scene unless it’s going to be used in the third.
Deb, I found the villain in THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY obvious. But Ruth Ware seems to have an audience for these books.
I’d sorta liked Ware’s first two novels, but “The Lying Game” and this one left me cold, so she’s officially dropped from my read list. One big problem for me in this one is that so many of the characters had similar names that I kept confusing them. Or maybe it’s just creeping senility.
Michael, I’m with you on the similarity of character names. That’s why I hate to read Russian fiction! The similar names confuse me!
What Deb said. Sorry about your WP glitch, though it looks okay now.
Rick, I managed to restore my review after I saw it had been reduced to one sentence.
Wow, this sounds like something I have to run out and buy right this minute! (Insert sarcasm emoti here!)
Bob, THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY will sell a lot of copies. Ruth Ware has developed an audience for her work. I’m just not one of them.