The Quiet Woman

by Priscilla Masters

Nurse Florence Shaw is baffled when a quiet patient dies in an apparent suicide pact with her husband. Can she uncover the truth behind this mysterious woman?

Richard and Christine Clay have been married for decades. Their relationship has stood the test of time despite Christine appearing passive while her husband is unmistakably dominant - at times bullying and controlling.

Nurse Florence Shaw has seen Christine at the surgery a number of times with minor complaints over the past year, none of which has led to a serious diagnosis. But when Florence hears that the couple appear to have entered into a suicide pact, she is shocked, though not surprised that Richard has survived. Was Christine's death really a suicide, or was there more to this quiet woman than meets the eye?

Genres: Mystery

298 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 2, 2024

About the author

Priscilla Masters' writing career started in 1987 when she published Mr. Bateman's Garden, a children's book set in Biddulph Grange Gardens belonging to the National Trust. After that she created Inspector Joanna Piercy and has now also written a number of Medical Mysteries.

Priscilla Masters lives in Shropshire, England. She works part-time in Staffordshire as a practice nurse.

Reviews

[Megan Warman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story overall! I just saw the ending coming about 50 pages before it got revealed and the story had some loose ends that never got tied up but I think it’s a series of stories so they may just lead into the next one.

[Lizzie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nurse Florence Shaw is part of a busy practice at her local doctors’ surgery, dealing with cases that do not require a doctor or, if she thinks it is necessary, sending them on for a doctor’s consultation. There are two regular patients who both worry Florence, although for very different reasons. Ryan Wood is a young man who claims to be trying to give up smoking, although Florence has doubts about his determination to do so. Ryan has had a disrupted childhood and has often had to act as carer for his alcoholic mother and Florence suspects he is on the fringes of criminality; nevertheless, she has a soft spot for him. The other recurring patient is one that Florence is really concerned about: Christine Clay is a woman in her sixties, who is continually making appointments to complain of a number of vague and unrelated symptoms, such as headaches, indigestion and insomnia. Florence has requested the doctor to send Christine for a large number of tests, all of which have confirmed that Christine is not suffering from any serious underlying condition. The thing that most worries and annoys Florence is that Christine never attends an appointment by herself. She is always accompanied by her husband, Richard, a severe man who insists on answering all the questions Florence asks his wife and often appears impatient, even despising, of his wife’s symptoms. Florence is convinced that Richard Clay is dominating his downtrodden, submissive wife. She requests Christine’s doctor to put her on the waiting list for psychological assessment and treatment but one day Christine arrives at the surgery alone and seems different in her manner than she usually does. Soon after this strange departure from their normal routine, Christine and Richard are found in their home suffering from a drug overdose. Richard is unconscious and is transported to hospital and survives but Christine dies.

The official verdict is that Christine believed she had cancer and decided to kill herself rather than die in agony and Richard elected to die with her. However, Florence cannot believe that the couple had really agreed upon a suicide pact. Nothing that she observed in their relationship makes her able to accept that Richard would kill himself rather than live without Christine. She is also worried about her own position, especially when she discovers that the couple’s daughter is an investigative journalist who specialises in highlighting failures in the NHS. She turns up, ostensibly to care for her father, but she makes it clear that she is going to probe into the reason why her mother did not receive appropriate treatment for her fixation that she had cancer. Florence knows that neither Christine nor Richard had ever mentioned concerns about cancer, but she also is aware that nurses are an easy target for accusations of causing harm by carelessness.

Florence’s personal life is also growing more complicated than it has been for some time. Her ex-husband, Mark, a detective sergeant, had left her for a much younger woman but now he is about to become a father again and shows signs of regretting his folly in leaving Florence. However, she has no desire to accept him back. In fact, Florence is starting a relationship with another detective, DC William Summers, and despite feeling some nervousness at starting the dating game for the first time in many years, she is happy.

Florence is determined to probe into Christine’s death as well as trying to discover what trouble Ryan is getting up to with his newly acquired criminal associates. However, the more Florence discovers about Christine Clay the more it becomes apparent that there are many secrets behind the meek facade that this quiet woman presented to the world.

The Quiet Woman is the second book in the series featuring Florence Shaw. It is a fascinating novel with an interesting plot and a delightful and thoroughly engaging protagonist. This an excellent read which I recommend.
------
Reviewer: Carol Westron
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)

[Bookreviewsbyaimy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Florence was a nurse practitioner has a patient, a man and a wife Who keep visiting her Clinic. The wife keeps claiming different symptoms but all her tests keep coming back negative even after months of investigation. The Husband is always there and speaks for the wife whenever the nurse asks her a question. Later the wife is found dead and the husband in a coma in the result of what seems to be a suicide pact. The nurse is convinced that the husband had gaslit his wife into committing suicide, and he took a low-dose of the drug that had killed her so he would only end up in a coma and not die.
That sounded like such an interesting premise for a book, didn’t it? I was excited to get into it, however for about 300 pages, nothing else happens other than nurse Florence dating, dealing with her ex and just regurgitating her suspicion of the circumstances in which the wife died. There were times when I wanted to yell at Florence that fine ok I get it! You don’t think it was a suicide. Can we please move on!

Honestly, if this was not an advance reader copy I would have not finished it. When I receive an arc book, I take it seriously and I make sure to finish it. I hate giving bad reviews. I don’t enjoy it. I know how much work and effort goes into writing a book. I am struggling right now to find something good to say about this one.
If you do wanna read it, just read the blurb and then read the last two chapters of the book and you will know exactly what happened in the entire book.

[Sian · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Quiet Woman - by Priscilla Masters

1 star ⭐️

The description of this book had so much promise, it sounded like it was going to be a really gripping domestic thriller however I was completely disappointed.

At first I thought it was a slow burn full of character development and story building but due to the main plot twist being given away in the synopsis, nothing really happened that we didn’t already know from the description.

The whole storyline felt dragged out and unnecessarily repetitive and I found myself getting frustrated with the FMC for being so nosey in other peoples lives (mainly her ex husbands) and seemed more interested in mothering the local petty thief than having a relationship with her own son.

Finally, the connection in the storylines between The Clays and Ryan felt so disjointed that it didn’t flow naturally and therefore felt like two completely different stories which seemed pointless.

Overall I was bored reading this and the only reason I didn’t DNF it was because I was waiting for something exciting or shocking to happen, but it never did. The ending was such an anticlimax.

Trigger warnings: Suicide, gaslighting, controlling and coercive behaviour

Thank you to NetGalley, Severn House and Priscilla Masters for this free ARC in return for an honest review. I am leaving this review voluntarily

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nurse Florence finds herself dealing with a strange middle-aged couple: the woman comes to her with increasing frequency, accompanied by her husband. She complains of a different ailment each time, but it is he who eagerly answers the nurse's questions. Each time, thorough examinations are carried out but, apart from the usual annoyances of age, such as high blood pressure, everything is normal, to the point that the nurse decides to go to the doctor and propose a psychological consultation for the woman, who she believes is being psychologically abused by her husband. Before the consultation, however, a strange visit takes place in which the woman participates alone for the first time. The couple commit a classic murder-suicide. She dies and he is narrowly saved. But who killed, or wanted to kill who? Florence sets out to investigate almost single-handedly, discovering a reality she would never have imagined and which makes her doubt her ability, even her professional ability, to read people's character.
There is material for a fine novel, but Masters seems unable to work it properly. The psychological insight into the characters that she gradually inserts instead of clarifying things makes them muddled, so that one often has the impression that the author does not quite know where she is going with this. The ending is extremely weak.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story!

How far will one go to punish another? Years? This story shows how far and long one woman will go to get her revenge.

Nurse Florence Shaw has seen Mrs. Clay over 10 times in her clinic in the past 15 months. Each time she's accompanied by her dominating husband who doesn't let her speak. All along, Florence thought that Mrs. Clay was a meek woman who was afraid to speak in front of her husband. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Florence has recently started dating again after her ex-husband, Mark, cheated on her and left her for a younger woman. But that woman trapped Mark by getting pregnant, making him a father after raising two of his own kids to adulthood. Mark is now full of regrets and wants her back, Florence isn't interested.

But when Florence hears about the Clay's suicide pact, something doesn't add up. She goes to pay a visit to the grieving husband and daughter only to find out things are not always what they seem to be.

A wild story.

*Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. The premise sounded really interesting - a double suicide but the man pulls through. However I felt it was dragged out, the ending was rubbish and the story just seemed to stop.
The story follows Nurse Florence, who meets a just retired couple through her job, the woman seems downtrodden and manipulated and the man seems aggressive and overbearing. Then Florence finds out that there has been a double suicide, but the man pulled through. The story follows Florence trying to work out what happened.
I read lots of thrillers and enjoy the twists and turns but I just found this one dry and nothing really happened.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of my favorite reads. I had a difficult time pushing through. I also felt the plot could have been wound up in half the time if the main narrator's every thought process wasn't explained (which was repetitive and not helpful) as I figured out the truth early on. Also, not sure if this was a fault in the digital copy I received but it ends rather oddly and seemed unfinished at the end - as if there was more to come.

[Hannah Paley · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the whole I enjoyed this book. It was a quick easy read. Part of the mystery surrounding the deaths was quite easily guessed mid way through.
The pacing was fairly good but not spectacular.
The ending felt very abrupt and a bit off. I suppose it’s setting up for another book but it felt like there should be at least another chapter. Plenty of loose ends left.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc copy to review.

[Hailey Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5.
This book was sooooooo slow and I also felt like it was super repetitive often repeating things from chapter to chapter. Also the ending - uhhh? I guess it’s setting up for another book but seriously it just ends, no real conclusion of anything.

Thanks NetGalley for the early read. But if I were you - I’d skip this book and find another thriller.

[Nicole]

The pace of this book is so slow. I continued reading it because it’s a relatively short book. I was waiting for the pace to pick up. It did not. And there wasn’t an exciting or satisfying ending that would have made reading this worthwhile.

[Hannah Paley · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the whole I enjoyed this book. It was a quick easy read. Part of the mystery surrounding the deaths was quite easily guessed mid way through.
The pacing was fairly good but not spectacular.
The ending felt very abrupt and a bit off. I suppose it’s setting up for another book but it felt like there should be at least another chapter. Plenty of loose ends left.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc copy to review.

[TheLisaD · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading the summary I was really excited for this one. Though while reading it I just kept wanting more from it and more twists.

[Eve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm 25% through this book and so far the protagonist is mildly worried about a couple people and has gone on a date. Am I curious about what happens next? Not even a little.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A suicide pact or was it?

[Bee R · Rating 1 out of 5]

First book that I didn’t push myself to finish.
I just could not get into this book 😕🤌🏻

[Janice Hom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suspenseful page turner

[John Sargent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written. fast paced. Ending was a little quick