Book Review – The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

Hal (Harriet) Westaway is broke and alone living in Brighton where her mother was killed in a hit and run shortly before Hal’s eighteenth birthday.  She ekes out a poverty level salary as a tarot card reader at the pier and cannot get out of the debt that she owes a loan shark.  With imminent danger lurking from threats of physical punishment for not paying the loan shark, she believes she finds salvation when she receives a letter from a solicitor advising that she is about to receive an inheritance from her grandmother’s estate.  The only problem is the deceased, Mrs. Westaway, is not Hal’s grandmother.  Hal knows that it is wrong to continue the charade, however, she is desperate – all her bills have been marked “final” and she is days away from an altercation with the loan shark’s henchmen so she travels to Trepassen House and pretends to be Mrs. Westaway’s granddaughter.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to Ruth Ware’s books.  I have been quite disappointed in two of them but yet really enjoyed The Lying Game so I wasn’t sure what category this one was going to fall into.  I really liked the character of Hal and even though the reader knows that what Hal is doing is wrong, you can’t help but hope that it turns out well for her.  There was a good mystery story to this book and I didn’t figure it out until the end.  This turned out to be a good read for me – 3.5 stars.