Q = Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips
"It was unseasonably warm for June. The table was set as though for a banquet: Cornelius must know of her taste and refinement, that she honored him and would provide a gracious home."
Asta Eicher is mother to three wonderful children: Annabelle precocious and imaginative, simple but sweet Grethe, and protective Hart. She takes care of her sick mother-in-law Lavinia, and is loved deeply by her on/off again boarder Charles. But Asta is a widowed artist who finds herself in debt, on the edge of losing everything she and her husband had worked so hard for... So she must find a new husband, one of means, and with room in his heart for her whole family.
Then the family goes missing.
Our main characters disappear and are replaced with new ones, Emily Thornhill and William Malone. Emily is an investigative journalist charged with finding out the truth about what happened to the family. William Malone, a banker, is driven by guilt; he knew something was wrong and couldn't stop it. Both are obsessed with the crime.
Quiet Dell is a historical fiction based on a real-life crime that took place in the 1930s. I loved that Jayne Anne Phillips opened the story with the Eicher family, making them real people with real lives rather than objects of a predator's ambitions. Swapping to the point of view of a reporter was a clever way to keep the reader engaged with the investigation and trial, without glorifying the perpetrator like so many crime stories do.
I picked this book up simply because it began with a Q and was happy to be surprised that I wasn't disappointed.
I hadn't heard of this and for a moment I read the author as Jayne Ann Krentz. But it sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI had to look up Jayne Ann Krentz, I'd never heard of her before.
DeleteSounds like another page-turner thriller.
ReplyDeletemore of a slow burn.
DeleteSounds an interesting mystery.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from A to Z https://anneyoungau.wordpress.com/
I was surprised by how much i enjoyed it.
DeleteWhen I first looked at it, I thought it said "Quiet DELI!" LOL
ReplyDeleteHistorical fiction....while I don't usually read fiction, when I do, it's historical fiction. My favorite series is the "First Man in Rome" ones by Colleen McCullough,
I'll have to look that book up. while I like historical fiction I don't read a lot of it because i have a hard time finding storylines that really hook me.
DeleteOh, this sounds like a good one. I try to read my way through the alphabet every year, and I'm going to make this one my Q.
ReplyDeleteQ is such a difficult letter because even though you can find books written with it as a title, there's no guarantees that the book will appeal to your personal tastes as a reader.
DeleteSounds interesting. I've added it to my TBR.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for A-Z Challenge Queen of the Underworld: Hel & My Languishing TBR: Q #AtoZChallenge2025 #Books #Bookreview