Past Shadows

by Anthea Fraser

Suffering from nightmares about the long-ago murder of her aunt and anxious about the stability of her marriage, Annabel Kendal heads to her family's annual reunion and decides to try to solve her aunt's murder.

Genres: Mystery

370 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

aka Vanessa Graham

Reviews

[Cynthia Grove · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this kindle version because the cover used by Amazon had on it "A Detective Inspector David Webb thriller". Because Webb is a DCI in other books I thought this might have been an early story. Wrong! David Webb is not mentioned in the book. Had I known I would not have bought it. That disappointment is no doubt reflected in my rating of it. It is an okay read and I won't be asking Amazon to refund my money but at this stage I cannot recommend it.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anabel and her family get together every year to celebrate her grandmother's birthday. But it's marred by tragedy from the past when her Aunt Hilary was murdered. After being contacted by a news reporter, Anabel begins to search into what happened.

A fairly quick read. Not too complicated, but some surprises.

[Valerie Campbell Ackroyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I will continue to work through Anthea Fraser's books, this one was a disappointment. The story plodded along--a rather familiar storyline about a long unsolved family murder and the reluctant "detective." Just as I thought it might get interesting, the book suddenly came to a conclusion, leaving loads of loose ends. The murderer came from almost nowhere and was not in the least menacing. The book left me wondering what happened to the rest of the characters and the moral dilemmas they were facing. I feel the author wasted an opportunity to create a more rounded, satisfying book. As I enjoyed her last book I will try another.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good mystery perhaps written to a format but none the less very enjoyable.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing to enjoy this newly discovered author.