The ultimate reveal of the connection between the traveler woman and the archaeologist felt sudden and a little contrived with how Mila found it and I didn't understand why she didn't immediately go to the police. In this mystery thriller, the unexpected death of a elderly traveller woman in the seaside town of Morranez sparks Mila Shepherd, a reluctant private detective, to begin an investigation. I usually give a few sentences for the synopsis, just as a refresher for myself but in this instance there are so many layers to this book, that I couldn’t do it justice.

When Ani falls off her bike an old traveller woman, Gosia, takes care of her until Mila arrives but the next day Gosia is found dead. I like the characters especially Ani and Mila and I love that through Mila we get to hear Sophie’s voice. When events take a turn for the stranger, Mila starts to question everything she thought she knew about her family, the town, and even herself. Mila has put her life in Bristol on hold after the sudden and tragic death of her sister Sophie and travels to France to take care of her fourteen year old niece Ani.Juxtaposed against the darker mystery elements of the story, this works really well to create a textured story of many different layers. Firstly, I did not understand Mila’s obsession with connecting with Gosia’s son after her unexpected death. You don’t find out until the last few chapters how Tomas died, a horrific murder during the war in the Balkans. The story is centred around the French seaside resort of Morranez, a small town with a big history that is dependent on the seasonal tourist trade.

Other than serving as a means to bring Mila from England to France, the whole plot line of her sister's death and her serving as a caretaker for her niece didn't impact the core plot in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, Mila is also juggling her rather inept attempts at parenting the young Ani who has essentially lost both her parents and has only Mila and her grandmamie Ceci. My only question is of Charlie (Sophie’s husband who also died in the accident), there was not much said of him at all, considering he was part of the ‘group’.Was it just luck that had the girlfriend of their estranged son show up at the dig to ask him for money, conveniently captured in a photo that implied they were having an affair? There are several cleverly intertwined mysteries that become more and more intriguing the further into the book you get as it takes you in several unexpected directions.

At almost no point did I as a reader feel like the plot was building towards something or get any sense of increasing tension or the stakes being raised. This seemed so contrived and only served to allow the bad guy to kill someone and make it look like a suicide over his ruined reputation. But first when an old traveller woman dies in suspicious circumstances, and then a campaign of hate drives another victim to take his own life, events take a very dark turn. Instead, it felt like all the revelations came in the last ten or so chapters; this is when I felt the story was most interesting and picked up a pace that was largely lethargic and slow. I found this a slower burn than her previous books but by the middle of the book I couldn't put it down.They are all different, with varying circumstances bringing them to the town, yet their transience links them together and weaves subplots throughout the main story. The last few chapters were real page turners and these are what bumped this up from a three star read to a four star read for me. Her niece Anya and best friend Purvo say it’s due to The fact they archaeologists that are digging up local ancient ground have released a curse but Mila blows this off as teen-age superstition . A traveller dies in her caravan after helping Ani when she fell off her bike, the police think it is a suicide but something bothers Mila, an investigator.

Incorporating some flashbacks would have helped me understand this absent character a bit more and likely sympathise with Mila’s caring approach.This is where she notices the thick scrapbook her name is Gosia and Mila offers for her to stay in their extra bedroom but the house a home less Lady refuses so the next day Mila decides to go check on her and when she does she finds her dead in her bed in the scrapbook that caught her attention the night before seems to be gone. Firstly Mila can smell smoke she goes off to investigate and she finds the traveller woman deceased. A number of different threads all come together but there are some things that aren’t resolved to my satisfaction and I wonder if there is a sequel in the offing. For example, she could have inherited the house there or could be spending the summer with family etc.