The Death of Mrs. Westaway in Crazy Challenge Connection

Feb 19, 2019 Krissy rated it did not like it

Shelves: audiobook, pgs-300-399, dnf, cover-color-gray-silver

I just could not finish this one. I was bored.

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Sep 24, 2018 Chris rated it it was ok

Shelves: mystery, fiction, mystery-thriller, audiobook, england

I reached a point where I just wanted this book to be over. Please. Just let it end.
The set up is a good one. Our anti-heroine, Hal/Harriet Westaway, is barely surviving as a tarot card read on Brighton Pier when she gets an unusual letter. She has been named in the will of someone who claims to be her grandmother. Harriet knows this must be a mistake, but she's so desperate for money, she decides to head to Cornwall and see if she can fake her way into a small legacy. (Problem #1 - the idea is I reached a point where I just wanted this book to be over. Please. Just let it end.
The set up is a good one. Our anti-heroine, Hal/Harriet Westaway, is barely surviving as a tarot card read on Brighton Pier when she gets an unusual letter. She has been named in the will of someone who claims to be her grandmother. Harriet knows this must be a mistake, but she's so desperate for money, she decides to head to Cornwall and see if she can fake her way into a small legacy. (Problem #1 - the idea is that Hal will use her talents for reading people to make this work, except as the story shows time and again, Hal is absolutely horrible at reading the people she meets in Cornwall). The old family pile in Cornwall is straight out of Daphne du Maurier, complete with its own Mrs. Danvers, who is cruel (and crazy?) in ways that are never fully explained (which is Problem #2). Not to mention the dead "grandmother," the eponymous Mrs. Westaway, was quite the piece of work. The house is full on Gothic, as is assigning Hal the bedroom in the attic, complete with padlocks on it. While this is going on, the story is also interspersed with sections from a diary written by someone (Hal's mother? Her aunt? Someone else?) detailing a summer love affair that results in a pregnancy. We know all of this is what leads Hal to be in the will. This is the heart of the mystery. Problem #3 is Hal's constant gnashing of teeth. Should she come clean and admit she's a fraud? Should she get the hell out of there? She runs away. She comes back. She goes for walks. Do something! And then there's the photograph. The photograph is a key piece of the puzzle. It's described like a faded snapshot one might have taken in the 1970s - except it was taken in 1994. I have lots of photos from the late 1980s and early 1990s. They're not faded. It all comes down to a final showdown that is utterly ridiculous because, Problem #4, the would-be killer has her in his clutches for an entire day but doesn't try to kill her when it would be so much easier, and Problem #5, there is a huge error at the end of the book when the killer talks about another death and says very clearly it was summer and then describes how the death happened in the cold of winter. ??? Aggravating. This book was very aggravating. ...more

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Jul 24, 2019 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 21, 2019 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2019, mystery, england, thriller, tarot

2.5 stars rounded up. Hal makes a living reading tarot on the Brighton pier. She gets a letter stating she will inherit some money and even though she's sure it's a mistake she decides to try to fool the family because she s badly in debt. My problem is that nothing happens for around two thirds of the book. Hal spends a lot of time dithering about whether or not to tell the truth and talking to various people. The only real action occurs at the very end of the book. I figured out the mystery ve ...more

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Jan 15, 2022 TheReadingKnitter/ Kasey rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, library, can-t-finish, 2022

I tried to listen to this book and got to about the 35% mark and just didn't care about the characters. I'm beginning to think this author is not for me. ...more

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