A Splintered Step

by Marian Exall

"Nothing much happens in Britain in the week between Christmas and the New Year." Sarah McKinney’s plan for a cozy vacation with her lover turns towards terror when she travels from her home in Decatur, Georgia to London for the holidays. Sarah encounters a figure from her troubled childhood who may hold the key to resolving a string of recent deaths. The search for a link between these random killings leads Sarah from London to Oxford and South Wales, and a painful confrontation with her past.

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 17, 2017

About the author

Marian Exall is an award-winning author of mysteries and historical fiction. She grew up in England, and lived in France and Belgium before moving to the United States. After raising a family while pursuing a career as a lawyer, Exall now lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest.

Reviews

[Richard]

Sarah McKinney's at it again. (See A Dangerous Descent, and before that A Slippery Slope.) Instead of the pleasant holiday Sarah hoped to spend with her love interest in Jolly Olde England, a murder happens (then another). While the boyfriend is off doing his own sleuthing, in the guise of his journalistic endeavors, Sarah uses her own (considerable) wits, puts herself in harm's way in the process, and tries to figure out whodunit on her own.
In A Splintered Step, award-winning author Exall reveals some of Sarah's family of origin issues (one murder suspect: her estranged brother!) as well as her own misgivings about her romantic relationship.
Highlights, as always in this delicious series, include descriptions of meals—preparation and eating—and also "interiors." Exall is at her descriptive best showing us around a room, a house, an office, a building—plus environs of a Britain she knows so well. Bring in English constabulary, adept and inept, and a touch of Hitchcock—this is a terrific read.