A truly diabolical premise with tension crackling off every page. A must-read for all who enjoy intelligently-written stories with great characterizations, and who enjoy surprise twists at every turn. A great addition to this genre, and highly recommended. I'll be reading more from this author!

*My sincerest thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the privilege of reviewing an ARC at no charge.*

I received this book for an honest review. I have to say that I didn't really enjoy the book. Yes it is a first time novel for the author, and given that, it was ok for a first novel, but it didn't draw me in, the writing was novice, but the storyline did flow as it should and the subject matter for the novel was a good one. I think the novelist, over time, will improve his writing style and he should definitely keep writing, he has the beginnings, and sometimes these writers make the best writers after only a couple books under their belt.

Just a short review, David and Catalina Plesence's marriage was on the verge of collapse. David was already seeing another woman already. He longed for a divorce, but Catalina had other plans and tried to twist and turn the situation with a murder or two, blaming others and getting herself into hot water.

I did guess the ending of the book early on, but I have read a lot of murder mysteries and can sometimes just pick it. I certainly am not wanting the author to stop writing. He should continue, and lets see if the next one can give me a bit of thought into the end result. Good luck Roderic.

A Deadly Marriage by Roderic Jeffries, was originally published in 1967 and has been re-released by Endeavour Books. Anyone who has been around narcissists knows that they are manipulative, vindictive, self centered, malevolent, and they are never satisfied; anything wrong in their lives is always somebody else’s fault. When David Plesence first met Catalina on a cruise ship, she was charming, he fell in love, and they were married. Once married, however, Catalina was unhappy that David wasn’t as rich as he had first appeared; nothing pleased her, and of course she wasn’t happy. David wanted a divorce, and because Catalina wasn’t willing to give him one, he fell in love with someone else. Catalina decided to punish both of them and get her revenge. As the story unfolds, readers will be appalled at what Catalina is capable of, and will wonder how she is continually able to find new ways for revenge without bringing suspicion to herself.

The story is fast moving, and will actually seem plausible to those who are privy to the behaviors of people like Catalina. There are some holes in the story that readers will wonder how they came to be, like how George Cabbot’s (the first murder victim) wife was sure that Catalina was her husband’s murderer, and was able to blackmail her.

One problem with this version of the book is that there are dozens of typos and errors throughout, which most likely weren’t there in the original version. They don’t make the book unreadable, but it is still a bit irritating.

There are several appealing things about the novel: It is set in London, where things are not the same as in the US; words and phrases are very English. The legal mores are decidedly different in the UK, so that the courtroom scenes are interesting; the characters are appealing (well, most are and they will remind readers of real people), well-developed, and unique. There is also plenty of suspense which builds throughout.

The ending is fairly abrupt; while readers are quite sure they know who the murderer is, and are frustrated at how she gets away with things and looks good to everyone around (typical of narcissistic people), while at the same time manipulating so that an innocent is believed by most of the village residents and police to have committed unspeakable crimes, including attempts to murder Catalina.

A Deadly Marriage is an old fashioned murder mystery that will appeal to many readers. Jeffries, whose first book was published in 1950, is a well-respected writer of dozens of English novels and is worth reading.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I loved the thriller and mystery an this book. Highly recommended it.

I enjoyed this fast-paced mystery. Catalina and David have been unhappily married for awhile and David has found another love. Catalina refuses to give David a divorce but is desperately seeking revenge for her husbands infidelity. Catalina figures if David is convicted of murder than he can't possibly be with his lover anymore. Tension builds as more and more evidence is pointed towards David. Will he spend his life in prison for a murder he didn't commit? Good read.

This book frustrated me quite a bit. It has a great skeleton in that the framework for an interesting plot is here, there are some complex characters with intriguing motivations, a relatively good pace and it all accumulates to create the perfect conclusion for this story.

However….

The writing isn’t very good, it becomes predictable making it hard to retain interest, you’re able to figure out the murderer fairly quickly in the first part of the book, the dialogue sounds stilted and almost childlike, page and story breaks aren’t very well delineated so sometimes it gets confusing as completely different plot points just run into each other and even though the conclusion is good for the story line it ends abruptly.

I felt this had so much potential but ultimately failed on pulling it together. I think the author would have pulled this off better if he had a partner that could do the actual writing while Jeffries came up with an outline kind of like what James Patterson does.