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Thursday 4 February 2021

The Worst Lie by Shauna Bickley

 

It was only when I plucked this from my TBR and quickly reminded myself what it's about that I realised this the second in a series. Any concerns I had about needing to read the first were soon dispelled. This is perfectly stand-alone.

Lexie Wyatt is what you could loosely describe as a modern-day Miss Marple. When her best friend's university pals have a ten-year reunion, Lexie is cornered by one of them, Eden, and asked for help in investigating the death of one of their number all those years ago. The suicide verdict didn't satisfy Eden. She's convinced it was murder. This, of course, puts Lexie in a tricky spot when she obviously has to look at each of the group, which includes her best friend and her husband. She discovers a web of deceit, secrets and lies.

I liked this author's style and she handles this slightly complicated plot with skill, making it flow well and easy to read. The characters are diverse, all of them engaging for different reasons and well portrayed. I was just a smidge irked by clichéd phrases such as 'she looked at him from beneath her lashes'. Phrases like that belong in Barbara Cartland/Woman's Weekly stories, not sophisticated novels like this one.

However, Bickley is an accomplished writer (with a less-accomplished editor…a fair few grammatical errors), who can execute a suspenseful and compelling thriller, and I'd really love to catch up with Lexie again.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Cathy and thanks so much for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed reading about Lexie.
    Shauna

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