I have a slew of reviews to write, so these are all going to be fairly brief. Plus, it’s now been several weeks since I finished this one. So here’s what I recall…

Hal Westaway, a.k.a. Harriet, is pretty much down to her last few pennies or pounds or whatever you people on the other side of the pond call your money. She’s a tarot card reader at a booth at the beach. And she owes some bad guys some money.

But a letter arrives, saying her grandmother has died and she is to come learn of her inheritance. Problem being… her (known) grandmother has been dead for years. She doesn’t know who her father is, but her mother’s last name was Westaway. The deceased grandmother is also a Westaway, so Hal assumes a case of mistaken identity. But … the allure of the money to solve her current debt problem is a draw, and she decides to go to the reading of the estate and pose as the inheritor.

She meets the Westaway siblings, her supposed uncles, who are understandably cold and suspicious. She claims she is the daughter of their sister, who mysteriously disappeared decades ago and hasn’t been heard from since.

Things become more complicated when Hal is willed the entire estate, with the others receiving a smaller amount of money. Guilt takes over, and through threats from the housekeeper, she realizes there’s more going on here. Let’s just say that — spoiler alert as if I even need to say this at this point — her claim to the estate is legit.

My personal take on this book is that it was pretty compelling the whole way through, although it kind of fell apart a bit when the big reveal happened and suddenly there was a murder on the loose.

I’m definitely going to read the rest of Ware’s, uh … wares. *groans on everyone’s behalf*. Her novels are entertaining, if nothing else. I read the audiobook version of Mrs. Westaway, which was narrated by the same author as In a Dark, Dark Wood. Thoroughly enjoyed that voice actress, so I hope she does the others!