CBR14 Bingo: Question (the book’s title is a question and there is a central murder mystery where the identity of the murderer is in question)
Young widow Charity Selborne is on holiday in the south of France with her friend Louise and they really have little planned except to enjoy the good food, nice drinks, beautiful scenery, and long drives. In Avignon, Charity befriends a young English boy who is also staying at the hotel, offering to take him with her on tours of the local tourist spots, as his stepmother doesn’t seem inclined to do so. She certainly wouldn’t have expected this act of friendship would get her embroiled in the final act of a complicated criminal conspiracy, involving attempted murder, actual murder, kidnapping, and more.
Once Charity meets the boy’s imperious and brooding father, who may very well be a psychotic murderer, she finds herself fleeing through multiple French towns to get away from the man, who is determinedly seeking the whereabouts of his son. Charity is worried for the safety of the boy and keeps trying to get away from the possible madman, who seems relentless in his pursuit of her. Once Charity gets sick of running and furiously confronts her pursuer instead, they actually sit down and talk and she realises just how much danger the boy and his arrogant father are in. Charity and the framed man begin to work together to find out exactly what the vast plot consists of, why someone tried to frame Richard Byron (the suspected murderer) for a crime he didn’t commit and then when he was acquitted, murder him instead. Why are the conspirators now using Byron’s son as bait to get him to come to France? Is Charity going to be their next victim, now that she’s involuntarily gotten involved?
Full review on my blog.
Bingo #10: Cozy (Mooncakes), Scandal (Subtle Blood), Hot (Hot Rabbi), Birds (An Enchantment of Ravens), Question (this)
Bingo #11: Bodies (Fangirl, the Manga, vol 2), New (Ruby Fever), Dough (Make It Sweet), Question (this), Elephant (Her Unexpected Roommate)
