Review ~ A Final Reckoning by Susan Moody

Severn House Publishers
2013

Thirteen year old, Chantal Frazer’s happy-go-lucky childhood is overshadowed by her elder sister’s murder. Twenty-three years later, Chantal returns to Weston Lodge in the Cotswolds, the scene of her sister Sabine’s murder, which is now converted into a luxury hotel. Determined to find out more about Sabine’s, untimely death, Chantal finds that events were not as clear-cut as she was first led to believe.

The Gothic setting, the chilling characters and misleading clues all add up to a fairly standard murder/mystery, which didn't quite keep my attention. Somehow, the story lacked a sense of authenticity, and I found myself skipping parts of the narrative, which for me is never a good sign. There is potential in some of the novel but the epistolary communication between the sisters seemed a bit contrived and rather uninspired.In the end, I was left feeling let down by the whole story.

Not a great book, but, as always make up your own mind.

My thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for my digital ecopy of this book.