You know those books you read, where, when you are going to sleep at night, you cannot wait to wake up, so that you can continue reading again? Peter Robinson’s Before the Poison, the story of Grace Fox, who was hanged for poisoning her husband Dr. Ernest Fox, was one of those books for me!
Taking a break from his hectic Hollywood life, Chris Lowndes returns to his native Yorkshire to his newly purchased Kilnsgate House. What his enthusiastic real estate agent omitted to tell him about this ancient house with a history, becomes an obsession with Chris, and takes him on a journey to uncover the truth of what happened nearly 60 years before.
The narrative, which interspersed the events of 1953 and the subsequent “Famous Trials” series by Sir Charles Hamilton Morley with the current events set in late 2010-early 2011, made for a very interesting read.
Of course I have to comment on the setting - always a huge factor for me. I absolutely loved the fact that we travelled back and forth such locales as beautiful rural English countryside and fascinating French cafes!
As far as characters go, with the exception of Heather (who got on my nerves from quite early on in the story) I liked everyone. As Chris Lowndes delves deeper into a decades-old story and - through his interviews with such people as Wilf Pelham, the neighbour, Sam Porter, the lover and Louise King, the granddaughter - brings Grace Fox back to life, I grew to like, admire, and really feel for the absent heroine of this story. The rebellious child who got thrown into adult life - not just a life with its mundane obligations of family life, but as a Queen Alexandra’s nurse, as revealed in her wartime journals of Dunkirk, Singapore and Normandy - had so much to live for, yet so much to live through.
More than a mystery, this story was a crime / drama. As I later realized, this was not so much about the actual murder, rather it was the story of what happened before the poison. Matron’s final address before the Sisters went back to civilian life was so poignant, and such a pointed precursor of things to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment