Book received from NetGalley.

The book is more of a 3.5-star read. This book started a bit slow for me but it really picked up at about the quarter of the way through. I really started hating the narrator of the story, who was not the main character. The main character was the prop that got the story told. It was interesting and I can't say much because it will give away the twist in the story, and believe me that twist was great. I sat there for a few minutes not believing that the author took it to that ending. It's a very quick reading mystery that some may consider a cozy.

While I found the blurb intriguing, I was completely unprepared for just how addictive this book would become. The rather uppity Lancelot Jones finds himself stranded, and desperate to be out of the heat he wanders into the estate of a most endearingly eccentric woman. I struggled just a bit these first few pages, because Mr Jones isn't very likeable, and spending those first few chapters so heavily with him was a bit of a chore. Yet as Alva speaks more and more, I couldn't help but be lost in her words, her tale.

Her words pulled me in, kept me enthralled in what turned from a sad tale of misfortune to a who-dunnit that had me desperately turning the pages, waiting for more. I will admit that although the narrator seemed occasionally naive, I wasn't as fooled as she in coming to conclusions.

Yet, there wasn't just one twist waiting on me as I neared the end, but another, then yet another! I never saw that ending coming, and when it hit me I felt delighted, tricked, and thoroughly satisfied. It is, to put it best, the perfect book if you find yourself with an afternoon to kill.
~George 4 stars

Oh,what an unexpected gem! This is "Dearth comes to Pemberly" meets "A passage to India".As in,an exotic location frames a Victorian murder mystery.
An absolutely brilliant book with a delightful ending.

Lancelot Jones is on his way to Bandrapore to work as a tutor when his light plane is forced to land in a desert. Looking for help he comes across a building, and meets Alva Hine, who is response to his question of why she is living there, she tells him her life story. A story of life fifty years ago in the Victorian era, of love of family, of hate and murder.
An interesting, and quick and easy read with a good ending.