Thursday 15 September 2022

Guest Review: The Creek by LJ Ross

YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE...

Kate Irving arrives at her grandfather’s cottage at Frenchman’s Creek in the dead of night with her young son, a small suitcase and little else. Its scattered community of fishermen, farmers, artists and jetsetters barely bat an eyelid, because theirs is a rarefied world, tucked beneath the lush forest that lines the banks of the Helford estuary, deep in the heart of Cornwall, where life is slow and people generally mind their own business. Unless, of course, your grandfather happens to be a pillar of the local community…

Kate’s left the past behind and guards her privacy and her son fiercely. She’s wary of accepting the friendship her new neighbours offer, but their kindness is too great to refuse and she begins to feel she has found her place in the world. That is, until tragedy strikes, and her new friends look to her for the answers…

Kate soon learns that the past always catches up with you, in the end—the question is, will she be able to face it, when it does?

Suspense is peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced mystery, set amidst the spectacular Cornish landscape.



Review: This is the second book in the Summer Mysteries Suspense Series by LJ Ross, an author whose mysteries and thrillers have always kept me enthralled. It has a really eye-catching cover depicting the setting for this story, which is Frenchman’s Creek, on the Helford estuary in Cornwall, familiar to many readers in the work by Daphne du Maurier. The storyline here had me hooked from the beginning and guessing how things would turn out right to the end.

The central character in this story is Kate Irving, who we first meet creeping out of her house at dead of night with her young son, Jamie. Though her husband, famous actor Will Irving, tries to stop them, they get away and travel a great distance, arriving at Kate’s grandfather’s cottage in Cornwall in the small hours. At first reticent to venture far from the cottage, Kate soon begins to relax and blends into a community where she spent happy times as a child. As well as the threat that her husband may find her at any minute, tragedy suddenly strikes the village and suspicion is thrown in Kate’s direction. Luckily she has an ally in the form of Nick, an old friend who has never forgotten her. The question remains of what will happen when Kate’s husband comes looking for her and who in the community is responsible for the tragic events?

I have very much enjoyed this suspenseful story and happily recommend it as light reading that might find its way into holiday packing. The setting of the book is idyllic and the writing such that I could imagine myself sitting outside the pub listening to the water flowing by. However, with the suspense connected with Kate’s situation and events in the village, it might not be so very relaxing. I was never sure of what was going to happen next and feared for the safety of Kate and Jamie - thank heavens that the strong and handsome Nick was close at hand. The author has hinted that these characters might crop up in future books; I will look forward to reading more about them.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

No comments:

Post a Comment