The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth

3.5 Stars

“How many people does it take to kill a rich old lady? I only wish I knew.”

When the police show up at Ollie and Lucy’s house to inform them Ollie’s mother Diana has been found dead of an apparent suicide, everyone appears to be shocked. But that’s nothing compared to their reactions when it’s discovered there were no traces of the poison which was found next to her in her bloodstream and, in fact, it appears she may have been smothered instead. The remainder of the book rotates in timehops from 10-years in the past to the present where the reader learns all about the Goodwin family dynamics, how relationships evolved and what made Diana the person she was.

The Mother-In-Law is receiving its Stars purely for the readability factor. This was 100% a Lifetime Murder Mystery type of selection so if that’s not your cuppa, well . . . .



Personally, I loooooooooooooooooooove family dramas. And surprisingly, parts of me really ended up kind of loving parts of Dianna as well. Probably because . . . . .



Maybe not 100%, but I’m definitely not of the touchy-feely variety, not extroverted, keep things close to the vest, etc., etc., etc. which often translates to cold or bitchy to others. And hell, let’s face it, sometimes I’m just cold and bitchy. Life’s too short to pretend you like people that you don’t.

That’s not to say I didn’t have some problems with this story. While Diana’s reasoning behind her decisions when it came to offering a hand up were eventually explained, I didn’t buy it. Yes, as a parent you want to raise children who will eventually not live in your basement and become contributing members of society, but she had already done that. Offering a pittance when asked that would remove PMI (that’s mortgage insurance for you youngsters - and lemme tell you it’s a rip-off) due being able to drop a full 20% down payment on a house purchase is not going to result in a son/daughter-in-law who are dregs on society. And about that money. OKAY THINGS ARE GOING TO GET SPOILER-ISH HERE SO EVEN THOUGH I’M NOT GONNA SAY THE WHODUNIT, YOU STILL MIGHT NOT WANT TO TAKE A PEAK IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THIS YET. BUT FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE, PLEASE HELP ME FIGURE OUT WTF WAS GOING ON AND ANSWER MY QUESTIONS. DID I JUST READ THIS TOO FAST OR WHAT???? Okay, everyone who isn’t supposed to be looking gone???? Here goes: (view spoiler)[ We are informed that the Goodwins live in a mansion filled with priceless art/artifacts. Did I somehow miss the explanation of where it all came from? How did Tom turn from simple plumber to multi-millionaire project manager who was able to hire immigrant engineers???? Or was all that simply glossed over? And aside from being ballsy enough to walk out of the home for unwed mothers, exactly how did Dianna have that hard of a life that made her such a bitch???? Because she was expected to help maintain the house her aunt so kindly let her live in? Because she had to *gasp* work TWO WHOLE DAYS A WEEK in order to care for the child SHE chose to keep and raise as a single mother? It seems to me she only had to wait a few months before Tom coming along and ordered that popcorn that changed her life from rags to riches forever. I was feeling soooooo sympathetic toward her until that point : ( The same goes for the tidy wrap-up at the end. Lucy and Ollie were FLAT BUSTED! Before the epilogue it was clear they were going to lose their business, lose their house, lose everything. How the hell did they start a new company. Who would ever give them a loan???? (hide spoiler)] Seriously, help me figure it out folks.

I’m still rounding up rather than down because I was totally invested in this and read it cover-to-cover without hardly taking a breath. Since I received an ARC I’m also hopeful there will be just a titch of tidying-up and tweaking in order to tighten this up before release date.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley!