Catriona McPherson has released a new standalone novel and Kerry Hammond is here with her review.
Strangers at the Gate by Catriona McPherson was published on
October 22, in Hardcover, by Minotaur Books. I am a fan of all of McPherson’s
books, from her Dandy Gilver series to her standalones. I look forward to each
and every one of her new releases because you just never know where she’s going
to take the reader.
When I started Strangers at the Gate, I wasn’t sure if
McPherson could pull it off. We start with a young couple who have landed dream
jobs in the quiet countryside. Paddy is a new partner of a
law firm and Finn has gotten a position as deacon of a church. It’s almost too
good to be true and they set off to live in the gate house of the property owned
by Paddy’s new boss.
The young couple seems to be on track and I, as a reader, wondered
where this could all go. Then they get invited to dinner at the boss’s house
and have a great night getting to know him and his wife. When Finn forgets
her purse and goes back to the house to get it, she finds their hosts' bodies—stabbed
and bloodied on the kitchen floor. Any normal couple would call the police and
report the crime. But not Paddy and Finn, they go home and panic.
What follows is what happens when you don’t report a crime, when you learn that your significant other has even more secrets than you do, and when you find out that there is way more to the new jobs and new life than you
originally thought.
I got sucked in right away. At first I thought it was unbelievable
that the couple wouldn’t just call the police and report the death—for at the
time they didn’t know if it was murder or suicide. But the more I leaned, the
more I understood what drove them to wait. They were basically digging themselves deeper and deeper into a hole and I really wanted to see how they would get out. I really enjoyed the ride!
This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the
publisher. The review was fair and completely independent.
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