Never know what to expect with Severn, usually average at best, but this time a pleasant surprise. A mystery novel from a new to me author that was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Not cheap, not cheese. In fact it had an almost old timey Agatha Christie ambiance to it and was adorably aware of it. Toward the end when everyone’s gathered in a grand suite to find out the truth…that was just such a lovely pastiche. But before you get to that, first you have to meet the Melvick family, wealthy Scots in a stately manor, who have money, good looks and genetic propensity for suicide. When the most recent one occurs, their eldest daughter starves herself to death (what a way to go), the youngest daughter comes back and soon all the ugly memories are dredged up and new dangers are encountered. So what was up with the mysterious explosion at the wedding a few years prior? Where did the lady of the manor disappear to? Why is Megan sleepwalking? Read and find out. If it sounds corny, rest assured, it really isn’t. It’s a well written, character driven, slow boiling suspense mystery that reads very enjoyably and not just owning to its classic structure and premise. Plus y also works nicely with the upstairs/downstairs premise, utilizing social divides and status differences for tragic outcomes the way Downton Abbey (can you believe they’re making a movie of it now?) does for happy ones. So yeah, a very entertaining mystery, read slower than page count might have suggested, but worth the time. Thanks Netgalley.

5 stars

This book is told in two voices. Megan in the present day and Carla's, a close friend of Megan's. The two are very different young girls and as they age their voices become more mature.

There are strange things going on at the Melvick family home in Scotland.

Megan Melvick returns home reluctantly at the imminent death of her elder sister Melissa. She does not want to go back after her three year absence for there are too many bad memories there. Some people say the family is cursed and past events sure seem to bear this out. Suicides, abandonments, murder and mental illness are just some of the things that befall the unlucky family. But all is not as it seems in this stately mansion. There are things boiling beneath the surface about which none of the Melvick's are aware.

There was the suicide of Megan's grandfather, the tragedy that closed Melissa and her husband Jago's marriage party five years earlier, the disappearance of Beth, Megan and Melissa’s mother three years ago and the introduction of Carla, Megan's friend into the family. Along with a host of other characters, these people inhabit the novel as if they were all present and vying for attention.

I stayed up way too late reading this engrossing story. It surely kept me guessing as to what was going on. Was the Melvick family really cursed, or is there a more human source of their troubles?

After a bit of a confusing start, this novel took off. I really enjoyed it. It is extremely well written and plotted. The reader learns about Megan and Carla's friendship, but not quite enough to give out the answers! (That comes at the end.) This book has great character development and I found most of them to be likable. I was suspicious of some of them - some rightly and some wrongly. I can't believe that I missed reading Caro Ramsay before, but I will surely correct that now.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this absolutely wonderful book for me to read, enjoy and review.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
Megan Melvick has come home after three years because her sister, Melissa, is dying. She's uneasy about it, her growing up with the family had been uneasy, to say the least. Her sister seemed to be the favorite and her feelings and memories of the way she was treated by Melissa are conflicted. She's deaf and prefers to be cloistered in her room, left alone with her dog, her books and her thoughts. Her best and only friend of her youth was killed in a fire before she left home and she misses her terribly, constantly thinking of the comfort she felt in her company.
This is a fantastic psychological thriller, I love all of Caro Ramsay's books and this one is right up there with the best. It's hard for me to say more about the story, I don't want to give anything away! But believe me, it's a corker, unputdownable! The ending was so good, finally explaining all the mysteries that kept me reading furiously late into the night. Highly recommended, 5+ stars.