If you’re looking for a quick, cosy mystery with yearning second-chance romance, Joffe Books reissues of Maxine Barry’s novels will hit the spot.
The novel opens with Oriana Foster released from prison after a lengthy spell incarcerated, and she makes her way back to her home village, where she knows she won’t be receiving a hero’s welcome. She knows she’s innocent of the crime she was convicted of as a teenager, but that means the real killer is still out there… along with the family of the victim.
Readers may be more familiar with the author under the Faith Martin name, and her descriptions of the Cotswold countryside give a firm sense of location. I’m not a massive romance reader – I tend to find romance less believable than dragons – but I did enjoy this novel. It’s warm, and hopeful, and is a story of redemption. The perfect read for an afternoon on the sofa with a cuppa. The sparks and tension are palpable, and it made for an enjoyable read.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and ZooLoo’s Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
About the Author
Faith Martin was born in Oxford, and has spent all her life within twenty miles of the university city, even working at Somerville College for six years before turning to writing full-time.
Faith has been writing for nearly 30 years under four different pen names and has had nearly 50 books published so far. She began writing romantic thrillers as Maxine Barry, which Joffe Books are in the process of re-releasing as brand new eBooks. Then she turned to crime, and as Joyce Cato wrote classic-style whodunits, since she’s always admired the golden-age crime novelists. But it was when she created her fictional DI Hillary Greene, and began writing under the name of Faith Martin, that she finally began to become more widely known.
Her latest literary characters WPC Trudy Loveday, and city coroner, Dr Clement Ryder, take readers back to the 1960’s and the city of Oxford. Having lived within a few miles of the city of dreaming spires for all her life, both the city and the countryside/wildlife often feature in her novels. Although she has never lived on a narrow boat (unlike DI Hillary Greene!) the Oxford canal, the river Cherwell, and the flora and fauna of a farming landscape have always played a big part in her life – and often sneak their way onto the pages of her books.Her hobbies include walking her now ageing dog, wildlife-watching, reading and (reluctantly) gardening.
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About the Book
Welcome to Nether Dene — the cosy English village where a crumbling manor, a long-buried secret and a second chance at first love are about to collide . . .
After thirteen years away, Oriana Foster has come home to the village that broke her heart — and bought the one house nobody thought she’d dare to touch: the Manor House, ancestral home of the very family who once helped send her away.
With a fortune from an anonymous benefactor and a heart full of unanswered questions, her plan is simple. Move in quietly, clear her name and finally uncover the truth about the night Rollo Seton died.
Because she didn’t kill him, but somebody knows who did.
What she didn’t count on was Lowell Seton.
Rollo’s infuriating but handsome younger brother is convinced Oriana is guilty — and he’ll do anything to win his family’s house back. But he can’t deny that the spark that flared between them when they were sixteen has never quite gone out . . .
With her first love convinced of her guilt, can Oriana uncover the truth before the killer strikes again?
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