A review by wealhtheow
Blackbird Fly by Lise McClendon

3.0

Merle is a middle aged lawyer doing good work when her husband abruptly dies of a heart attack. His death leads to many reveals: Harry gambled all their money on the stock market, leaving them broke; Merle realizes she'd fallen out of love with him years ago; he'd had a long affair and a secret illegitimate child. All of these earth-shaking revelations pale in comparison to the ones Merle uncovers when she goes to Harry's family home in France. There, she discovers

he was actually the illegitimate child of his father and a teenager he seduced and abandoned, who was adopted by his father's first wife, and then the father killed the first wife and took off with a second wife, who stole the first wife's identity

, that

there's a great basement filled with casks of valuable wine hidden away

, and even that

numerous men who had brushes with Harry's dastardly father want to hurt Merle and/or steal the wine

. All this while she's just trying to rehab the old French home!

I totally bought Merle as a character. The details of her life, and the way she thinks, seemed totally believable and recognizable. The tangled web of Harry's family and the various people out for blood seemed increasingly unlikely, however. I'd say this worked well as a character piece, not so much as a mystery.