The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.

π π π π

Ruth Ware is one of the best at setting a scene, throwing in some drama and have you accusing everyone and triple guessing at who you believe. Her 4th novel, The Death of Mrs. Westaway is no exception.

In a fairly straight forward plot, Hal gets a letter saying that her grandmother has passed away and she will receive an inheritance. Woo hoo, this comes at a perfect time since Hal is seriously in debt. Hal doesn’t believe that she is the right person (she has never heard of her grandmother), but she goes to the funeral to check it out.

It’s mostly a simple book, but Ware has you making crazy guesses. I had no idea what was going to happen and I didn’t guess the majority of the ending.

It’s not a perfect novel, since I found that there were some things that didn’t quite make sense. It seemed like the author was going more for convenience and the shock factor.

4 calculators out of a potential 5. A quick read that will have you not trusting anyone and question who is really family.

Let’s be friends! Goodreads & Instagram