"A desperate crime, kept secret for 60 years... but time has a way of exposing the truth... Esme Quentin is devastated when her sister Elizabeth is beaten unconscious, miles from her home. Two days later Esme discovers that Elizabeth has a secret past."
I was intrigued by the description of the book and as it involves genealogy and is set in Shropshire (My home town), I just had to give it a go. It is a satisfying read with quite a few twists in the plot to maintain your interest. I did find that the first few pages were rather over descriptive and it felt a little as though the author had sprinkled it with adjectives to up the word count. Don't be put off by this, it does quickly settle into a good rhythm and soon becomes an easy and enjoyable read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Books Go Social for the opportunity to preview..

Esme's sister Elizabeth is attacked and left in a coma. As Esme seeks to find out why she unearths a decades old mystery.

I enjoyed this book & found its story telling perfectly adequate though not special. It is an ideal light read verging on a cozy crime style book.

The characters were not as well developed as I felt they could have been. We do get dribs and drabs of Esme's past but I never felt that any of this developed her into a rounded character that I could understand. I found some of her behaviour at odds with other actions. Her niece, Gemma, was even more strange. Why would anyone not move heaven & earth to discover what had happened to their Mother? Why would you totally disengage from your only family support whilst your Mother is in a coma?As the older person why did Esme not try to find common ground & not leave it so she didn't connect or support her niece for days on end?

There were some occasions where I felt the conclusions reached by Esme & her friend Lucy were a little unlikely & the connection quite tenuous. On other occasions she was definitely quite dense! However, this is fiction & as a reader I am happy to allow some leeway despite it grating slightly.

This is a debut book which was a good enough read. Perhaps the author's future books will settle a bit & she will get into her stride. I will certainly be prepared to give another one a try.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley

#Blood-tied #NetGalley

A well written historical novel. The mystery and the narrations are deep and bold. A good novel for intrigue lovers.

Family and intrigue. Don't they just go together so well? In this book they definetly do. This is the first of the series and i have read the next two also. All i can say is -buy this book!