A Mystery...

It's been a while since the last book review so how about one today? Actually, it's been a while since I finished this book!! Given to me by Sandi for the flight home from Florida, The Murder Stone by Charles Todd was a great read. I don't read a lot of mysteries, but this one drew me in quickly and was hard to  put down (it sure helped to pass the time on the long trip home). Set in rural England during WWI, this mystery has lots of twists to keep you guessing all the way to the end. It's main character is Francesca Hatton, a young woman who has just lost her beloved grandfather, the man who raised her. The war has claimed all five of her young male cousins  who were also raised by the grandfather. As his sole heir, she receives everything. It is not long before she discovers there may have been a side to her grandfather she knew nothing about.  Among his effects she finds a letter cursing the Hattons and their descendants. Then several strangers show up at the funeral making claims against her grandfather, none of them "favourable". One young man claims Hatton murdered his mother. Could any of this possibly be true? Was Francis Hatton a very different man from the kind and loving grandfather she remembers? It seems he had many secrets which he kept well hidden from his family....
Francesca also must deal with a stipulation of the will which requires her to dig up, transport to Scotland and bury there an unusual white stone from the garden where she and her cousins played as children. The Murder Stone. But before she can begin that journey, she must deal with the strangers who seem determined to slander her grandfather's good name.
Todd does an excellent job of conveying the emotional "tone" of the book - the grief Francesca is feeling, the loneliness of now being totally alone, the fear of what else she is going to discover..
Can she piece together the true story? You'll have to read it to find out!

Peace,
Linda

"The love of books is among the choicest gifts of the gods." ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle