Mystery Annotation: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
Synopsis (Spoiler free): Hal Westaway has fallen on hard times since the passing of her mother three years prior. Money is tight, and she is barely scraping by when a letter comes saying that her grandmother has left her an inheritance. But Hal’s only grandparents died years ago. With loan sharks coming to collect and no money to pay them, Hal decides that she needs to figure out whether this money belongs to her and maybe discover the secrets that the Westaways have worked so hard to bury.
Pacing: Though not fast, the pace of this book moves at a decent rate. It always feels like Hal is either learning something new or piecing something together.
Storyline: The storyline of this book revolves around the mystery of Hal Westaway and how she is related to the Westaways of Trepassen House. The biggest of these mysteries is who is her father. As time continues on Hal not only discovers that her mother had lied to her about the identity of her father but also about much of her childhood. There is a fair amount of danger for Hal as she begins to dig into the family’s secrets. The book also ends rather abruptly once Hal figures out all of the secrets relating to the mysteries that she is trying to solve.
Characters: Staying true to the genre, Ruth Ware gives a lot of details about the life of Hal Westaway. The beginning of the book has several chapters dedicated to showing her everyday life and the trouble that she is in before the mystery is even revealed. In fact it takes a long while before it becomes apparent that there is a mystery present.
Setting: The setting of The Death of Mrs. Westaway is mainly at the Trepassen House, childhood home of the Westaways. There is a good deal of time that is spent describing the layout of the house and some time about how the rest of the area is laid out so that readers are able to imagine being there. Additionally, the magpies that are prevalent at the Trepassen House are also described quite often which helps to make the setting feel more real.
Tone: The tone of this book tends to be more serious but not so much so that a good time isn’t had. The mystery at the heart of the story is a little dark and sad but there are many scenes that show Hal having a good time meeting the other Westaways. There is an undertone of unhappiness that does pervade all the characters when they talk about the past.
Language: The language lends to the tone of the book and it being a mystery. For the entirety of the book you are in Hal’s head so when Hal is feeling beat down, the language mirrors that. Similiarily, when she makes a break through it is easy to get excited with her.
Read-alikes:
Endless Night by Agatha Christie
In the Valley of the Devil by Hank Early
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
References
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA.
Photo from goodreads.com.
Nice annotation. Last year, I read "The Woman in Cabin 10" and found it to be too mundane. Of course it had that mystery element too it, but I feel like she spent too much time on details that didn't pertain to the mystery. For example, you said that she sets up her daily like before revealing the mystery in the story. She did the same thing in the "The Woman in Cabin 10" and I still don't understand why. It's almost like she is writing for the sake of making the book longer. I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either. In this story, did that set up play out at all in the mystery part of the story?
ReplyDeleteThis is something that I've found I just don't appreciate much about the mystery genre. I wasn't able to put my foot on it until reading about the appeal factors and the general frame of mysteries is something I don't really like to read. Often mysteries take too much time (for me) to set up the story. But, I guess people like that about them. My guess is you'd prefer thrillers or suspense with a mystery element than straight mysteries. I'm finding that I do!
DeleteI would say that the set up has more to do with the story than they did in The Woman in Cabin 10. That being said they are more of a motivation than really tying into the plot. This is a bit of a spoiler but they introduce a plot thread that motivates her for the first half of the book and then at the end the main character doesn't resolve it but just says it doesn't matter anymore, even though the external factors that are the same at the end (note: this is not something that just goes away with perspective).
ReplyDeleteI have read other of Ruth Ware's books and this felt least similar to the others. The narrator was reliable, had no holes in her memory, and focuses on the mystery more than the other books.
What makes your read alikes, well, read alikes? I like Agatha Christie and I just wondered what the similarities are?
ReplyDeleteExcellent annotation, this is one of those books I've been meaning to read for a while. Full points and great job breaking it down!
ReplyDelete