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A Cursed Inheritance
by Kate Ellis
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Piatkus Books (2005-03-24)
ISBN: 0749907258
EAN: 9780749907259
Dewy Decimal #: 813
Hardcover: 320 pages
SKU: H5259
Condition: Very Good
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The brutal massacre of the Harford family at Potwoolstan Hall in Devon in 1985 shocked the country and passed into local folklore. And when a journalist researching the case is murdered twenty years later, the horror is reawakened. Sixteenth century Potwoolstan Hall, now a New Age healing centre, is reputed to be cursed because of the crimes of its builder, and it seems that inheritance of evil lives on as DI Wesley Peterson is faced with his most disturbing case yet. As more people die violently, Wesley needs to discover why a young woman has transformed a dolls house into a miniature reconstruction of the massacre scene. And could the solution to his case lie across the Atlantic Ocean, in the ruined remains of an early English settlement in Virginia USA? When the truth is finally revealed, it turns out to be as horrifying as it is dangerous.
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Customer Reviews
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Ideas Are More Exciting Than the Writing-- Audio Book Review
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-10-23
A dead body is discovered floating in a river in Devonshire. At first the police consider suicide, then they discover that the body is that of a crime reporter who was doing research into a local atrocity, a horrendous murderous rampage in the 80's that wiped out almost an entire family. There is also a side order of possible Satanism in that dead crows where nailed to the front and back doors of the Elizabethan manor house where the murder occured. The historic side of the mystery involves a British archaeologist who goes to Virginia to participate in a dig at "Annetown". He also has a personal errand to carry out for his dying grandmother.
First, I was relentlessly annoyed by the Annetown references. I really wish the author had Just called it Jamestown and add a paragraph to the Author's Note explaining that liberties were taken with history for the sake of the plot. Clearly she wanted to incorporate some recent research into the deaths at Jamestown which nearly scuttled the colony.
Second the author had better ideas than her writing skills will support. The writing was mostly bland. The characters, past and present, were rather cardboard and stereotyped. The villain was predictable. I think the author could have spend more time on both the psychology of the characters and the police procedure part. I was, for instance, surprised when a policeman is made aware of the destruction of evidence which showed a character had observed a murder scene contrary to the earlier story and he doesn't even twitch, in fact he thinks it might be a good idea to get rid of the evil paintings.
Finally, the epilogue doesn't add anything to the story, it's apparently just there to add some drama. It also doesn't ring true to the character.
With regard to the narration, I wasn't particularly impressed by it. Sometimes I got confused during the narration of conversations and couldn't figure out who was speaking. However, I did get to add to my collection of bad American accents. It wss a combination of a Western drawl with some southern around the edge. Fortunately the character was not on stage much or I would have driven myself nuts trying to come up with a way that he could have acquired that particular manner of speech.
I definitely suggest that someone read this rather than listen to it. At least when you fall asleep reading the book stops at that point rather than running on to the end.
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