carlat22's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
I love Lesley Thomson's books, and had pre-ordered this. It was a joy to meet up with Stella and Jack again, and to see their relationship develop.
bookedbymadeline's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for the eARC! So apparently this is part of a series?! It’s one of those detective type novels where the characters are the same but each “case” is different so you can technically read them as standalones. I didn’t know that until another reviewer mentioned it 🙈 It’s not made very clear on Netgalley’s page or here.
Feels very all over the place with details, with some info dumping of character background at the beginning, jumping in and out of the main plot. I kept getting confused, and getting pulled out of the story.
I don’t like the present timeline. I find most of the characters flat and cheesy, the kids were especially annoying. I’m just not a fan of any of the characters, I don’t feel any connections to them. But this could be because I haven’t read the rest of the series. I started skimming the present day chapters because the pacing was all over the place there, with too many overly descriptive sections that I was getting bored often.
There are also so many grammar/continuity mistakes!! At one point a major player, Philip became Peter. And the way information is given is in a roundabout confusing way instead of being straightforward. Too often I ended up rereading paragraphs because I didn’t understand the clues/new info they were discussing.
The dialogue and Stella’s inner thoughts feel cheesy/unnatural at times, especially surrounding her reading an (outdated and absurd) parenting book.
I correctly guessed most of the twists early on but I was slightly surprised by one of the other twists. So the ending felt anti climatic being proven right for the majority of the mystery. Maybe cozy mysteries aren’t my thing. I need tension and suspense, hanging on the edge of my seat with fast pacing! I don’t like the meandering, minute descriptions mixed with a mystery.
Overall it was an interesting enough book that I finished it but I really only finished because I wanted to find out what happened and if I was right 😂 The first half was much better than the second half, as the second half we slowly stay more in the present and don’t look back as much at the 1940s timeline, which I think was the best timeline.
If you enjoy cozy mysteries or detective series, I’d still recommend this book (and maybe the whole series to get more character background/development)!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, War, and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape
travelsalongmybookshelf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
‘Stella, you and I are the perfect team. We are wasted lolling about by the sea.’
I haven’t read any others in this series, but I feel that you can read this as a standalone. You do get a bit of an intro and backstory at the beginning.
Eighty years of secrets. A body that reveals them all.
1940. At Yew Tree House, recently widowed Adelaide Stride is raising her two daughters alone - but it's not just the threat of German invasion that keeps her up at night. She is surrounded by enemies posing as allies and, while war rages, she grows sure that something terrible is about to happen.
2023. Soon after Stella Darnell begins her holiday at Yew Tree House, a skeleton is found in a pillbox at the bottom of the garden. The bullet hole in the skull tells her that the person was murdered.
This triggers the unravelling of a mystery eighty years in the making. Soon, Stella will learn that Adelaide was right to worry - the fighting might have been happening abroad, but the true enemy was always much closer to home...
1940. At Yew Tree House, recently widowed Adelaide Stride is raising her two daughters alone - but it's not just the threat of German invasion that keeps her up at night. She is surrounded by enemies posing as allies and, while war rages, she grows sure that something terrible is about to happen.
2023. Soon after Stella Darnell begins her holiday at Yew Tree House, a skeleton is found in a pillbox at the bottom of the garden. The bullet hole in the skull tells her that the person was murdered.
This triggers the unravelling of a mystery eighty years in the making. Soon, Stella will learn that Adelaide was right to worry - the fighting might have been happening abroad, but the true enemy was always much closer to home...
I got hooked on this one so quickly, it was right up my alley! A little bit Christie crossed with his fic like The Whalebone Theatre. I actually like the kids, with their famous five-esque want to find a murder- rah! (They are seven), the rector Snace is super creepy and I love a book where there are two timelines so that slowly slowly the mystery is unravelled.
Stella is a ex detectives son, she has a professional cleaning business and solves murders on the side with her partner Jack, who has a true crime obsession and whose own mother was murdered when he was 3. Stella does not particularly want to solve murders it seems, she just seems to fall into it.
‘Adelaide caught him gazing at her in his strange contemplative fashion, she reminded herself it wasn’t only the Nazis she should fear.’
Jack and Stella are fabulously bickery, there are a classic pair of old ladies, a very creepy and anciently decrepit vicar, two brilliant kids and a crazy but fabulous journalist in a van! This would be TV gold!
It’s complex with a twisting plot, murder in the past and present, leading us finally to the truth, it’s very well done. I was totally addicted and read this over 2 days, obsessed as I was to get to the end. I definitely want to read more of this series now I have discovered it!
Original, fantastic plotting, basically a total treat!
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