I can't say that I am a fan of Mary Higgins Clark. But I do enjoy reading her novels. That was the reason I picked up 'Moonlight Becomes You'.
It's a story of Maggie Holloway - an established photographer. Stuck in a boring party, she bumps into her stepmother, Nuala, quite by chance - more than 2 decades after Nuala has divorced her father. But Maggie has fond memories of five years spent with Nuala. And Nuala, of course, is simply delighted to see Maggie again. Maggie, however, senses that despite her usual cheerfulness her step-mom is afraid of something. Nuala invites her to her home in Newport, Rhode Island and Maggie readily agrees.
But when Maggie lands at her doorstep she finds Nuala murdered and the house ransacked as if someone was looking for something. It turns out that Nuala, in her will, has left the place to Maggie - thus abandoning her earlier decision of selling it and movie to the nearby retirement community, Latham Manor. Her only condition is that Maggie should remain in touch with, and occasionally visit, Nuala's best friend Mrs. Shipley who stays at Latham Manor. Maggie decides to keep Nuala's place - much to the chagrin of Nuala's lawyer. She also visits Mrs. Shipley and ends up accompanying her to a cemetery where many of her friends are laid to rest. But Mrs. Shipley, who has taken the news of her best friend's murder very badly starts looking ill and suddenly passes away in her sleep one night. Maggie comes to know that the same thing has happened with two of the Latham Manor occupants before and that in fact one other thing common to all of them is that they didn't have any close relatives. In a bizarre twist she also discovers a bell left at the graves of both Nuala and Mrs. Shipley. Is there is a connection between the deaths at Latham Manor and these bells? Who own Latham Manor? Is she putting her own life at risk by choosing to stay at Nuala's place? Who was Nuala afraid of? Why did she change her decision to move to Latham Manor? And who killed her?
The novel does provide answers to all these questions in the end. But I am afraid it is not too difficult to put two and two together to conclude who the killer is about halfway through the book. If you paint a character in too dark a shade of black, readers sense that it is supposed to be a red herring and start looking for the criminal elsewhere. I much prefer the tactic of putting suspicion on each character and slipping a tiny clue where it will be missed by most readers. Also, I couldn't help but be mad at Maggie for unnecessarily putting herself in harm's way when she could have done better by co-operating with the cops and enlisting their help. I don't much care for characters that are hell-bent on playing Sherlock and end up dropping almost dead. The relationship between Neil and his parents came as breath of fresh air - especially since most of the novels depict children not getting along with their parents.
I was curious about the title and a little hunt on the net brought me to the lyrics (check out Bing Crosby singing it) of the song from which it seems to have been borrowed. I must confess that I failed to see the connection though :-)
It's a story of Maggie Holloway - an established photographer. Stuck in a boring party, she bumps into her stepmother, Nuala, quite by chance - more than 2 decades after Nuala has divorced her father. But Maggie has fond memories of five years spent with Nuala. And Nuala, of course, is simply delighted to see Maggie again. Maggie, however, senses that despite her usual cheerfulness her step-mom is afraid of something. Nuala invites her to her home in Newport, Rhode Island and Maggie readily agrees.
But when Maggie lands at her doorstep she finds Nuala murdered and the house ransacked as if someone was looking for something. It turns out that Nuala, in her will, has left the place to Maggie - thus abandoning her earlier decision of selling it and movie to the nearby retirement community, Latham Manor. Her only condition is that Maggie should remain in touch with, and occasionally visit, Nuala's best friend Mrs. Shipley who stays at Latham Manor. Maggie decides to keep Nuala's place - much to the chagrin of Nuala's lawyer. She also visits Mrs. Shipley and ends up accompanying her to a cemetery where many of her friends are laid to rest. But Mrs. Shipley, who has taken the news of her best friend's murder very badly starts looking ill and suddenly passes away in her sleep one night. Maggie comes to know that the same thing has happened with two of the Latham Manor occupants before and that in fact one other thing common to all of them is that they didn't have any close relatives. In a bizarre twist she also discovers a bell left at the graves of both Nuala and Mrs. Shipley. Is there is a connection between the deaths at Latham Manor and these bells? Who own Latham Manor? Is she putting her own life at risk by choosing to stay at Nuala's place? Who was Nuala afraid of? Why did she change her decision to move to Latham Manor? And who killed her?
The novel does provide answers to all these questions in the end. But I am afraid it is not too difficult to put two and two together to conclude who the killer is about halfway through the book. If you paint a character in too dark a shade of black, readers sense that it is supposed to be a red herring and start looking for the criminal elsewhere. I much prefer the tactic of putting suspicion on each character and slipping a tiny clue where it will be missed by most readers. Also, I couldn't help but be mad at Maggie for unnecessarily putting herself in harm's way when she could have done better by co-operating with the cops and enlisting their help. I don't much care for characters that are hell-bent on playing Sherlock and end up dropping almost dead. The relationship between Neil and his parents came as breath of fresh air - especially since most of the novels depict children not getting along with their parents.
I was curious about the title and a little hunt on the net brought me to the lyrics (check out Bing Crosby singing it) of the song from which it seems to have been borrowed. I must confess that I failed to see the connection though :-)
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