6 April 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-316-4 (PB)
An island accessible only by small boat. A small, luxurious hotel with a tragic and deadly history. A storm which rages for days, cutting off communication and any hope of rescue. And a murderer without conscience or remorse. It’s a classic mystery scenario, worthy of the Queen of Crime Agatha Christie.
When Mallory Dawson retires from the police after sustaining a serious injury, she needs a job as a stop-gap while she decides on her next steps. Night manager at the Cloister Hotel on the island of Eldey just off the Pembrokeshire coast seems ideal for a few months, at least until she finds herself in sole charge of a dozen people during the worst storm anyone can remember – and Alys the receptionist dies in a horrific manner.
The situation isn’t made any easier by teenage Elsa, chambermaid, waitress and general factotum, who is convinced the hotel is haunted by the ghost of a nun who also died horribly during the hotel’s previous life as a convent. And of course, the guests, who expect the five star service they have paid for, are no help at all – especially when one of them dies horribly too.
With the support of one of the less obstructive guests, disabled GP Michael Hutton, Mallory deduces that child killer and poisons expert Bryony Clive, who was released from prison some time ago under a new identity, has somehow made her way on to the island and is out to exact revenge. Age and general appearance narrows down the pool of suspects to three of the guests: Charlotte, browbeaten wife of the bombastic Noah and stepmother to his stroppy teenage daughter; Beth, troubled mother of a toddler; and Mona, a longer-term resident at the hotel, there to complete an art commission.
The ability to build tension is clearly one of Sarah Ward’s prime qualities. The level starts high with Alys’s untimely demise, and rarely drops very far until the dramatic climax. Another of her skills is creating characters. The three main suspects all come over distinctly; though they, and Mallory too, are much of an age and (apparently) background, they are very different from each other. The men, too, are all discrete and well defined: Tom the chef, level-headed and resourceful; Noah the barrister, big and overbearing in body and personality but with a soft spot for his disturbed daughter; Michael the doctor, defensive around his disability but nonetheless sharp and perceptive.
The island background is well drawn too, menacing, and inhospitable, especially in the lashing storm which makes it almost impossible to leave the hotel and brave the outdoors. The hotel itself is beautifully appointed but becomes more and more claustrophobic as the nightmare develops.
Which of the three suspects is the very dangerous Bryony?
And will Mallory identify her before the body count spirals out of control? You
may find yourself still turning the pages at three in the morning...
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick
Sarah Ward is the author of four DC Childs novels set in the Derbyshire Peak District where she lives. She is also writes gothic historical thrillers as Rhiannon Ward. The Birthday Girl, is the first book in her new Welsh based series, published 6th April 2023. She has also written Doctor Who audio dramas. Sarah is on Board of the Crime Writers Association and Friends of Buxton Festival, is a member of Crime Cymru, and a Royal Literary Fund fellow at Sheffield University.
Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she
could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and
feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side
to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several
careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning
with books, about half of them crime fiction.
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