Mother Love

Karl Alberg #7

by L.R. Wright

A housewife's murder draws a Canadian detective into a twisted family history in this novel by the award-winning "master of the psychological thriller" (Booklist).

Maria Buscombe was a housewife living in Sechelt, British Colombia, until seven years ago when she suddenly abandoned her family. Now it seems she has returned--just in time to be murdered. What made her leave? What made her return? And who was sending her money and photographs of her daughter all that time?

These are the questions nagging at Sergeant Karl Alberg as he searches for Maria's killer. Meanwhile, Alberg's longtime companion Cassandra Mitchell is doing some nagging of her own. Alberg had promised, after all, to hang up his policeman's hat.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Canada, Adult

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

L.R. Wright was born Laurali Rose Appleby on 5 June 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Known as Bunny, Wright grew up in Saskatoon and in Abbotsford, British Columbia. She worked as a reporter in Calgary before becoming a full-time writer in 1977. After publishing her fourth book, Wright returned to school, receiving an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University. She taught writing at the University of British Columbia and wrote adaptations for several of her books for radio, film, and television. L.R. Wright died of breast cancer on 25 February 2001.

Series:
* Karl Alberg
* Eddie Henderson

Awards
Arthur Ellis Award: Novel
* 1991 – A Chill Rain in January – Winner
* 1996 – Mother Love – Winner

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave her two stars just for writing the book and getting it published. The first book in this series, 'The Suspect', I liked pretty well. The second one that I read, 'A Touch of Panic', I really, really liked. This one I didn't like at all. There were no sympathetic characters in it. It was dark and dreary. The main characters, whom you read a series to follow, weren't in it much at all. The time frame jumped back and forth. Just a really poor outing for this author and series. I'll try another one, but not for awhile.

[JayeL]

UGH! I didn't enjoy this installment of the Karl Ahlberg series. The beginning of the book took too long to start resolving the overall mystery. It was very unclear what the problem was until over 3/4s of the way through the book. The characters were well written and the story was pretty interesting once it came together. I didn't like Maria, however, and I didn't think she acted or spoke in the way that a person who just found out she was adopted would act. While my mother is still alive and I don't know how I would act, I know I wouldn't call some random woman I never met "my mother". I didn't guess the killer, though I didn't like Harry or Hamilton. Being focused on money is a big red flag, but those guys would have been really successful if they had done something legal.

[Dorene Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m giving this 2 stars because the story line bounces around on the timeline of events. Not just from chapter to chapter but, within the chapter also. So it made it hard for me to focus & figure out what/who they were talking about. I had to force myself to finish the book.

[Karalee Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is number 7 in the Karl Alberg / Murder in a Small Town series. This one seemed very fragmented throughout much of the story – a whole bunch of disparate characters who didn’t seem to have much to do with each other, in a variety of different time periods and/or geographic locations. I was reminded of the style of the British television show Unforgotten, which is for me the exemplar of dislocated British mysteries (though I do enjoy it very much.) Anyway, it did come together in about the last ten percent of the novel.

A Canadian television series has been loosely based on some of the entries in these books. The TV characters, as usual, are much better looking than those in the novels. It does help if you read the books in order, as there are complicated back-stories running through the whole series and some details are not reiterated in later volumes.

[Flo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed in this, the 7th in L. R. Wright's Karl Alberg mystery series. There is no mystery since we are aware almost from the start who killed Maria Buscombe. The humor that lightened Wright's previous novels is lacking and I found I could not care about Maria, her daughter, her husband or her son in law. Why she did what she did and does what she does is never really made clear. I suppose one must read this one if one wants to know what happens to Karl and Cassandra. But I would have given it a pass.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound

This is the 7th book in a series and the author astounds me with so many well developed, amazingly different characters and intricate plots. The endings always conclude with greater understanding and pleasant satisfaction.

[Norman Bein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sinister and not as enjoyable as previous works

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something different about this seventh book in the series. Many characters are introduced at first and they don't seem to have any connection until about halfway through the book. Jumps years through the various chapters but the story doesn't flow together. Also, includes many scene set ups with a great amount of detail, but to seemingly no end, ie. do we really need a full page of Helen's room and why? This book is my least favourite of the series.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read, hard to put down

I quite enjoyed the book but was disappointed in the ending. It wasn’t a mystery in any sense of the word, it was obvious whodunit and why from about the 5th chapter. I also found it a bit formulaic and somewhat cliche.

Having said that, I couldn’t put it down, the writing style is flowing and companionable and it’s a good book for a rainy day.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. A little bit confusing keeping track of characters back and forth in time but that is all. Different story as is typical for Wright which is what I like about her. Her grasp on human imbalances and mental illnesses is strong as usual. The way people treat and think about family always astounds me. I am blessed with mine.

[Deane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heredity insanity leads a mother to realize she needs to get away from her daughter before she does something terrible to her....someone pays her $20,000 a year to stay away for 10 years...she does so for 7 years but returns which stirs up a lot of problems for all. A very sad story.

[Samuel E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took awhile to get into

But once I did, I enjoyed it a lot. I worried that Cassandra would be a subject. The title of the book was unclear for awhile but eventually made sense. As always, I look forward to the next one.

[Ellie Rhodes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve read the entire series but this one is a big NO. Too disjointed. Too slow. It’s all over the place and taking too long to come together. This is the only one that I’m giving up on. I hear it gets better at about the 75% mark but that’s just not good enough. Too many other great books to read.

[Tracy W. Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different story!

The past and present was hard to follow and the end could have been more exciting. The main characters of the other book were almost minor characters in this. I want to read it to understand more.

[Sharon Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

This one goes back and forth in time . Maria finds out secrets before her mother dies. She searches out the truth. Then leaves her family. Very good strong characters. Storyline is good and well written.

[Bill Lents · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inheritance fever....

The characters, some weird, others only strange, make for a tale that is not only confusing, but entertaining. Different new characters, make for an unusual story.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good murder story about Karl and Cassandra.

Such an interesting storyline--kept me engaged with the characters. The murder was very creepy and I honestly didn't know who committed the murder until close to the end. I love the TV series too.

[Joan Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complicated story about a woman given up for adoption.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dreary. No surprise. Loads of nothing much.

[Billie Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read!

This, to me, is by far the best of L. R. Wright books. Well worth the read! Pick up a copy.

[Leslie P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of this series. Two more to go, though, so I will likely finish it.

[Lois Rooney-Giurin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the characters of Karl and Cassandra but this book spent too much time with unlikeable characters. The solution, while believable, was a bit of a deus ex machina.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two-haiku review:

Wife's been gone 8 years
She comes back and is murdered
Why go? Why come back?

Back and forth in time
Confused a lot of the book
But the end helped me

[BookAddict · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this better than the last 2. These have just started to wear me. out though.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another good installment! Albeit, not quite up to the previous one. However, I loved how the detective work gets to the bottom of these!

[Ron Christiansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complex, layered plotting with multiple characters. Just what I love from Wright.

[Rita · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stuck with it to the end, but I'm not sure why other than it was an intentional lazy day. The inspector was an enjoyable character, but the rest were very flat. There were occasional vague memory sequences throughout the book, though not as an ongoing part of it. And they didn't really connect well or receive an explanation. There were a few memories of child abuse, seemingly from the mother. Near the end the inspector asked the daughter if she'd ever been hit/abused/I forget the exact word, and she replied sometimes. At the end the daughter's husband tells her he believes their marriage can work because he is not like her father. And that's it. No tie in. Daughter and father seemed to have a decent relationship. Lack of motivation or trite motivation for most characters.

Perhaps to avoid responsibilities or perhaps to give the author another chance I began Acts of Murder. Just don't go there. Girl kills her dog and we're on to other things. WHAT? What happened? Why? Revenge, crazy, accident? No clue and I don't trust that I would actually find out.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

However much I like the writing, my opinion of a book is affected by the horror and gore I must endure to get through the book. Fortunately Wright focuses more on the pathological than on the physical anatomy of murder. This installment of the Sgt Karl Alberg, RCMP, series is well written. Although it jumps around in time and focus, in this instance I find the plot device helpful in keeping up the suspense and leading skillfully to the denouement. I love the presence of Cassandra Mitchell in the story; she is a glass of wine in the meal of Alberg's life.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reread, after 15 years. I really like the sense of place in Wright's books. The Sunshine Coast with its picturesque isolation and timelessness could almost be a precursor of Louise Penny's Three Pines. Alberg, Cassandra and Sid are sympathetic, well-drawn characters. The story is less a standard mystery and more a psychological puzzle - why did Maria disappear, why did she come back, why was she murdered. The answers lie in the multigenerational impact of mental illness, greed and mother love.