The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Harriet Westaway receives an unexpected letter telling her she’s inherited a substantial bequest from her Cornish grandmother, it seems like the answer to her prayers. She owes money to a loan shark and the threats are getting increasingly aggressive: she needs to get her hands on some cash fast.

There's just one problem - Hal's real grandparents died more than twenty years ago. The letter has been sent to the wrong person. But Hal knows that the cold-reading techniques she’s honed as a seaside fortune teller could help her con her way to getting the money. If anyone has the skills to turn up at a stranger's funeral and claim a bequest they’re not entitled to, it’s her.

Hal makes a choice that will change her life for ever. But once she embarks on her deception, there is no going back. She must keep going or risk losing everything, even her life…

I'm not sure if I would have necessarily called this a psychological thriller as it leans more towards a mystery/murder/family drama novel but nevertheless very entertaining and enjoyable. Kind of like an Agatha Christie book it has lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and it takes almost all the way through before you finally find out what's going on so this is a worth while read for that alone!

Hal the main character is well drawn, strong willed, wry humoured, quick witted and smart she is a good lead character but we didn't really get much characterisation of the others in the book which meant that she was virtually holding the storyline all on her own. The Westaway family members were not really fleshed out enough to make them come over as 'real' and this was something that I felt let the book down. I was also really fed up with Ruth Ware having Hal constantly apologise and I lost count of the amount of times she repeated 'holding her arms in front of her like a shield' or any other object 'like a shield' and 'she flushed' - it became annoying to keep reading these lines - she had more flushes than a menopausal woman!!

Aside from my personal gripes I did enjoy the book for what it was and although (as with most of this genre) I did guess the ending it was still a pleasant read and I can easily give it 3.5 stars. Rounded up to 4* for Goodreads and Amazon.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.