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Port Silva #8
Death Duties
The mother-and-daughter private investigative team introduced in Keepers, Patience and Verity Mackellar, take on a challenging new case. A visitor to Port Silva hires them to clear her grandfather of anonymous sexual abuse charges that caused his suicide there thirty years earlier.
- GenresMystery
100 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 20, 2008
Not everyone likes prologues in novels, but I do, provided they’re short and intriguing. The opening of Janet LaPierre’s Death Duties epitomizes all that’s good about prologues. In a page and a half, the author shows us a little girl’s love for her grandfather, and a grandfather who is clearly troubled by something.
Chapter One picks up the story twenty-eight years later, where we learn that the grandfather had committed suicide when his granddaughter, Christina Larson, was still very young. We also learn why Edgar Larson killed himself, which is another reason I loved this prologue. The big question is answered early. Edgar had been accused of child molestation by two anonymous callers, not long after a child was raped and murdered. No evidence ever connected Edgar to the crime, yet rumors persisted in the small town of Port Silva. Edgar wound up ostracized by many, including his daughter-in-law who severed his relationship with Christina.
After the death of her own father, Christina returns to town and hires Verity MacKeller of Patience Smith, Investigations to clear her grandfather’s name. Not an easy task. Memories are faulty and many of Port Silva’s residents back then have moved away or died. Complicating Verity’s professional life are the ups and downs of parenting her adopted eight-year-old child and a local cop who’s falling for Verity. The more she learns about the past, however, the more danger Verity puts herself and others in.
One of the many appealing aspects of this book is Verity’s mother, Patience, the driving force of Patience Smith, Investigations. While Verity sorts out the past, Patience has her own clients and ongoing romance. By weaving both women’s lives together, LaPierre portrays a unique mother/daughter relationship.
Death Duties is a gripping read. The rainy ambience of Port Silva reflects Verity’s state of mind as she explores a time most residents don’t remember fondly, and ponders her own future with trepidation. The twists and turns kept me guessing in this compelling story.
Chapter One picks up the story twenty-eight years later, where we learn that the grandfather had committed suicide when his granddaughter, Christina Larson, was still very young. We also learn why Edgar Larson killed himself, which is another reason I loved this prologue. The big question is answered early. Edgar had been accused of child molestation by two anonymous callers, not long after a child was raped and murdered. No evidence ever connected Edgar to the crime, yet rumors persisted in the small town of Port Silva. Edgar wound up ostracized by many, including his daughter-in-law who severed his relationship with Christina.
After the death of her own father, Christina returns to town and hires Verity MacKeller of Patience Smith, Investigations to clear her grandfather’s name. Not an easy task. Memories are faulty and many of Port Silva’s residents back then have moved away or died. Complicating Verity’s professional life are the ups and downs of parenting her adopted eight-year-old child and a local cop who’s falling for Verity. The more she learns about the past, however, the more danger Verity puts herself and others in.
One of the many appealing aspects of this book is Verity’s mother, Patience, the driving force of Patience Smith, Investigations. While Verity sorts out the past, Patience has her own clients and ongoing romance. By weaving both women’s lives together, LaPierre portrays a unique mother/daughter relationship.
Death Duties is a gripping read. The rainy ambience of Port Silva reflects Verity’s state of mind as she explores a time most residents don’t remember fondly, and ponders her own future with trepidation. The twists and turns kept me guessing in this compelling story.
August 25, 2018
BAD- DIDN'T READ
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews