Revealing secrets is a dangerous pastime
The Company She Kept
By Marjorie Eccles
Endeavour Press
Mystery & Thrillers, General Fiction (Adult)
Pub Date 02 Dec 2016
Review
I'm a bit of a romantic, so ramshackle manor houses with long hidden secrets naturally appeal. Add that to a cunningly composed police procedural and you definitely have my attention.
From the start, readers learn that secrets lie in the past. Fourteen years ago something happened at Flowerdew estate, and those involved pledged to keep quiet. Now, someone in the group is threatening to reveal the truth. When an anonymous note alleging that a murder has gone long hidden crosses the desk of DCI Gil Mayo, the last thing he expects is for it to lead to a death. When Angie Robinson, an intelligent but little liked woman is found strangled, at first it appears to be a sex crime. The deeper DCI Mayo and his new DS Abigail Moon dig, the more links to Flowerdew estate and those who resided there emerge.
I was captivated by the story, and I liked how Eccles alternated the narrative between the investigators and those who were involved in Flowerdew's past. It enriched the mystery by giving readers insight into events while holding just enough back to leave plenty of surprises. DCI Mayo and DS Moon made for a good team, and Eccles did a great job of providing enough personal detail to flesh out the characters.
The Company She Kept is like a perfectly made dish - enough spices to enhance flavor without overpowering the quality ingredients at its core. All that is left is for the reader to sit back and enjoy.
5/5
I received The Company She Kept from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Description
A group of friends, a night of secrets, a sworn silence…
The silence is now broken at the most unseeing of times.
But why?
Why would anyone want to bring up a past that safely lay buried?
A secret that could destroy the lives of many. A secret that had no doubt haunted those present for many years anyway...
In the blink of an eye, Felix Darbell’s life is thrown into chaos. Submitting to the urge to revisit the source his fears, Darbell returns to the venue where it had all almost ended.
Flowerdew is almost how he remembered it...
Meanwhile, Detective Chief Inspector Gil Mayo has a new addition to his team, Abigail Moon.
When they receive a note, it doesn’t mean much to Mayo.
Trying to decipher the note takes them down too many paths to be too bothered by its content.
And then the discovery of Angie Robinson’s asphyxiated body provides more questions than answers.
A search of Angie’s residence soon unearths a link to the note – a link that Mayo needs to investigate the murder from a different angle.
What was Angie about to reveal?
There are secrets, of that Mayo is certain. But which one of the likely suspects will crack first?
The Company She Kept is a gripping thriller that takes a walk down memory lane, to a night that changed lives forever…
