Book Review Tuesday - The Family Plot - #BRT

Jun 27

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Released in 2015, The Family Plot by author Dusty Pembroke is about a small-town librarian named Inez DeMello who comes into a vast inheritance and must travel to the island of Madeira, Portugal, to claim it. Ah, not so fast, though - there's deceit and intrigue and family secrets that are to be revealed.

There’s a good interaction between Inez and her friend Cassie, who has traveled with Inez. They’re young women who are curious, adventurous, and who seem to understand each other well. Sweet, innocent young women are perfect for such a story.

Pembroke writes lovingly about Madeira, and it’s obvious she has traveled there. There’s a lot of description in the scenes, although I would have preferred more evocative words than ‘beautiful’ or ‘lovely.’ It left me wanting more exposition.

The tension builds, slowly at first, but the reader knows something is amiss with the residents of the big house. Still, I was halfway through the book and little had happened, other than a pair of Inez’s treasured sapphire earrings had gone missing. That should have been a bigger deal, because it foreshadowed future events. Other circumstances that suggested misdeeds or even death threats were glossed over or resolved too easily, but I knew there was more story to tell. The big twist at the end might surprise the reader, and Pembroke handled it well.

A good copy editor would have caught misspellings and shifting point of view perspectives. But I did stick with this story because overall it was compelling enough to hold my interest. And the author has set up the ending so that if she writes a sequel, it will fit nicely.