The Death of Mrs. Westaway

December 1, 2017

Since blasting onto the scene with In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ware has come up with some pretty intriguing premises, and this sounds no different. Protagonist Hal quickly realizes that a letter she's received about a big inheritance was misdirected and just as quickly realizes that certain skills she has developed as a tarot card reader can help her claim it anyway. But at the deceased's funeral, she gets the sense that there's something really off about this death.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 2, 2018
In this tense, twisty modern gothic set in England from bestseller Ware (The Lying Game), Harriet “Hal” Westaway receives a letter stating that her grandmother, Hester Westaway, is dead, and that Hal is a beneficiary of her will. Hal knows there’s been a mistake—her grandmother was named Marion Westaway and died two decades earlier—but the 21-year-old orphan owes a lot of money to some dangerous people, feels comfortable stealing a small sum from wealthy strangers, and decides to use the skills she’s honed as a fortune teller on Brighton’s West Pier to scam some quick cash. But when she arrives at the crumbling family estate in Cornwall, neither the inheritance nor the Westaways are what she expects. Moreover, she begins to suspect that her invitation was no accident. Is Hal playing the Westaways, or is she somebody’s pawn? Evocative prose, artfully shaded characters, and a creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere keep the pages of this explosive family drama turning. Agent: Eve White, Eve White Literary (U.K.).

April 15, 2018
A young woman receives notice of a mysterious bequest. Is it a case of mistaken identity, or will it reveal some truth about her family?In Ware's (The Lying Game, 2017, etc.) fourth novel in as many years, Harriet "Hal" Westaway is barely making ends meet as a tarot reader on the Brighton Pier. Her mother died in a hit-and-run several years before, and in her grief, Hal has drifted into a solitary and impecunious life. Worse still, she's under threat from a loan shark who's come to collect the interest on an earlier debt. So when she receives a letter saying she's been named in the will of, possibly, an unknown grandmother, she decides to travel to Cornwall, despite fearing that it's probably all a mistake. There she meets several possible uncles and a creepy old housekeeper right out of a Daphne du Maurier novel, all against the backdrop of a run-down mansion. As Hal desperately tries to keep up her charade of belonging to the family, she realizes that the malevolent atmosphere of Trepassen House has strong roots in the past, when a young girl came to live there, fell in love, and was imprisoned in her bedroom. Hal just has to figure out exactly who this girl was...without getting herself killed. Ware continues to hone her gift for the slow unspooling of unease and mystery, developing a consistent sense of threat that's pervasive and gripping. She uses tarot readings to hint at the supernatural, but at its heart, this is a very human mystery. The isolation of Trepassen House, its magpies, and its anachronistic housekeeper cultivate a dull sense of horror. Ware's novels continue to evoke comparison to Agatha Christie; they certainly have that classic flavor despite the contemporary settings.Expertly paced, expertly crafted.

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Starred review from May 1, 2018
Hal hasn't had it easy in the three years since her mother died. She's dropped out of school and taken over her mother's tarot booth on Brighton Pier, but there was never much to be made from that. Now interest on the money from a loan shark has grown to an impossible amount, and he's threatening to break her bones. So when a letter arrives on creamy stationery from a lawyer in Penzance saying she's an heir to her grandmother's fortune, Hal goes to claim it, even though she knows he has the wrong person. Yet once at Trepassen House, things take an odd turn; a photograph shows she does have connections to the family. Finding the truth, however, turns into a very dangerous enterprise indeed. Ware, who, with a run of acclaimed thrillers, including The Lying Game (2017), has established herself as one of today's most popular suspense writers, twists the knife quite expertly here. Her clues tease readers, making them think they know what will happen next, and they do?up to a point. The labyrinth Ware has devised here is much more winding than expected, with reveals even on the final pages. The plotting is not completely seamless, but that is more than made up for by a clever heroine and an atmospheric setting, accented by wisps of meaning that drift from the tarot cards.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)