Mary M. (emeraldfire) -
Emily Graham is a criminal defense attorney who has already been through so much during her lifetime. Having already endured an exasperating ex-husband and the acrimonious breakup of her marriage - as well as the traumatic experience of being pursued by an obsessed stalker - Emily feels the need to get as far away from home as possible. So, deciding that she deserves a change of scenery, she eagerly accepts an offer to leave Albany and take up a position with a major law firm in Manhattan.
Feeling a strong desire to reestablish her roots, Emily buys her ancestral home - a restored Victorian mansion situated in the historic seaside resort town of Spring Lake, New Jersey. Her family had chosen to sell the house back in 1892, after the mysterious disappearance of nineteen-year-old Madeline Shapley - a distant relative of Emily Graham. Unfortunately, Madeline Shapley was never seen again.
More than a century later, as the house is being renovated and the backyard excavated to install a pool, the skeletal remains of a young woman are found. She is soon identified as Martha Lawrence, someone who went missing from Spring Lake over four years ago. However, Martha doesn't seem to have been buried alone - she has another woman's finger bone clutched within her skeletal hand. The lady's finger bone still has a ring on it - a ring that turns out to have been a Shapley family heirloom.
Now, as Emily seeks to discover the link between her family's past and the most recent murder, she actually finds herself haunted by both murders - despite the one hundred and ten years that separate them. Emily's subsequent investigation reveals that both crimes seem to be related to each other, yet this information isn't actually what frightens her the most. What actually begins to frighten Emily the most, is that she has somehow attracted the attention of a very devious and seductive killer - someone who ultimately sees her curiosity as a threat, and has chosen her as his next victim...
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this particular book. Actually, the story gave me the slightest impression that I was reading an Agatha Christie-style mystery - which means that I hadn't any clue at all who the perpetrator was, but absolutely no one was beyond suspicion. In my opinion, it was an intriguing and intricate plot that held my attention all the way through. I would definitely give this book an A!
I may have said this before, but I will say it again: to me, Mary Higgins Clark is a bit like Barbara Delinsky in terms of enjoyment of their books. The books that I have read by Ms. Clark have all been very entertaining and enjoyable, but sometimes she is a bit of a hit-or-miss author for me.
Feeling a strong desire to reestablish her roots, Emily buys her ancestral home - a restored Victorian mansion situated in the historic seaside resort town of Spring Lake, New Jersey. Her family had chosen to sell the house back in 1892, after the mysterious disappearance of nineteen-year-old Madeline Shapley - a distant relative of Emily Graham. Unfortunately, Madeline Shapley was never seen again.
More than a century later, as the house is being renovated and the backyard excavated to install a pool, the skeletal remains of a young woman are found. She is soon identified as Martha Lawrence, someone who went missing from Spring Lake over four years ago. However, Martha doesn't seem to have been buried alone - she has another woman's finger bone clutched within her skeletal hand. The lady's finger bone still has a ring on it - a ring that turns out to have been a Shapley family heirloom.
Now, as Emily seeks to discover the link between her family's past and the most recent murder, she actually finds herself haunted by both murders - despite the one hundred and ten years that separate them. Emily's subsequent investigation reveals that both crimes seem to be related to each other, yet this information isn't actually what frightens her the most. What actually begins to frighten Emily the most, is that she has somehow attracted the attention of a very devious and seductive killer - someone who ultimately sees her curiosity as a threat, and has chosen her as his next victim...
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this particular book. Actually, the story gave me the slightest impression that I was reading an Agatha Christie-style mystery - which means that I hadn't any clue at all who the perpetrator was, but absolutely no one was beyond suspicion. In my opinion, it was an intriguing and intricate plot that held my attention all the way through. I would definitely give this book an A!
I may have said this before, but I will say it again: to me, Mary Higgins Clark is a bit like Barbara Delinsky in terms of enjoyment of their books. The books that I have read by Ms. Clark have all been very entertaining and enjoyable, but sometimes she is a bit of a hit-or-miss author for me.
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