The Liar's House by Carla Kovach
DI Gina Harte #4
Published By Bookouture
Publication Date: 2nd July 2019
337 pages
Genre: Crime, Police Procedural
Book Description:
Samantha stumbled out of the party and on to a busy street only ten minutes away from her home. But she never made it home… Seven years after Samantha’s disappearance, on what would have been her thirty-fifth birthday, her best friend Diane is shocked to find a letter addressed to Samantha on her doorstep.
Opening the envelope, Diane pulls out a birthday card and a finger nail painted in dusky pink nail polish. The same shade Samantha always wore. The same shade she was wearing the night she went missing.
When police analyse the nail, they don’t get the result they expected. Instead of linking them to Samantha, the nail belongs to another woman, Jade Ashmore. And Jade was murdered the night before the envelope was delivered….
Opening the envelope, Diane pulls out a birthday card and a finger nail painted in dusky pink nail polish. The same shade Samantha always wore. The same shade she was wearing the night she went missing.
When police analyse the nail, they don’t get the result they expected. Instead of linking them to Samantha, the nail belongs to another woman, Jade Ashmore. And Jade was murdered the night before the envelope was delivered….
My Review:
My decision to ask for a place on the blog tour for this book of Carla Kovach's was based on my enjoyment of the previous book in the series 'Her Pretty Bones'. The setting of the books being local to me adds an extra dimension to the stories too, I find.
DI Gina Harte and DS Jacob Driscoll are called to the scene of a deadly assault on a young woman in an alleyway in the dark of night. Jade Ashmore has left a party early but doesn't make it home. It's up to Harte and her team to find out what has happened and why - and more importantly who wanted her dead. Why did she leave alone when her husband was also at the party?
This is a fairly fast paced novel, with short punchy chapters which keep the action moving and your attention focused on the characters. It is probably best to have read at least one of the previous novels in the series in order to understand Gina's personal and career history and how this influences her feelings towards this case. As Gina interviews local residents and other partygoers who would have known Jade, the past and present come hurtling together and threaten to have Gina taken off the case. It's all getting a bit close to home - but is Gina being paranoid or has someone orchestrated the whole scenario in order to get the DI personally involved?
With a cold case from 7 years previous suddenly seeming to come alive when the best friend of a missing woman receives a birthday card containing a fingernail painted in her favourite colour nail polish, Gina has her work cut out to find out whether this is just another coincidence or whether the sender has knowledge of the events surrounding Jade's attack. Why wait 7 years to make themselves known?
We follow the investigation of the two events which throw up some eyebrow raising facts along the way. There are some really unlikeable people in this book and some who I genuinely felt sympathy for. I found this a good balance of characters and a realistic representation of how some of the people we see outwardly as happy, outgoing and funloving are actually very lonely and sad behind closed doors. We are only judged by the persona we present to the world, but if you scratch the veneer sufficiently the real person underneath can be a very different soul. Everyone has their secrets.
I am really enjoying this series, and would recommend it as a good crime/police procedural series if you don't want anything too heavy. A good book to pop in your suitcase for your holiday.
DI Gina Harte and DS Jacob Driscoll are called to the scene of a deadly assault on a young woman in an alleyway in the dark of night. Jade Ashmore has left a party early but doesn't make it home. It's up to Harte and her team to find out what has happened and why - and more importantly who wanted her dead. Why did she leave alone when her husband was also at the party?
This is a fairly fast paced novel, with short punchy chapters which keep the action moving and your attention focused on the characters. It is probably best to have read at least one of the previous novels in the series in order to understand Gina's personal and career history and how this influences her feelings towards this case. As Gina interviews local residents and other partygoers who would have known Jade, the past and present come hurtling together and threaten to have Gina taken off the case. It's all getting a bit close to home - but is Gina being paranoid or has someone orchestrated the whole scenario in order to get the DI personally involved?
With a cold case from 7 years previous suddenly seeming to come alive when the best friend of a missing woman receives a birthday card containing a fingernail painted in her favourite colour nail polish, Gina has her work cut out to find out whether this is just another coincidence or whether the sender has knowledge of the events surrounding Jade's attack. Why wait 7 years to make themselves known?
We follow the investigation of the two events which throw up some eyebrow raising facts along the way. There are some really unlikeable people in this book and some who I genuinely felt sympathy for. I found this a good balance of characters and a realistic representation of how some of the people we see outwardly as happy, outgoing and funloving are actually very lonely and sad behind closed doors. We are only judged by the persona we present to the world, but if you scratch the veneer sufficiently the real person underneath can be a very different soul. Everyone has their secrets.
I am really enjoying this series, and would recommend it as a good crime/police procedural series if you don't want anything too heavy. A good book to pop in your suitcase for your holiday.
About the Author:
Carla started writing more seriously ten years ago after having flirted with musical theatre and occasional writing in her youth.
Since then she has written & produced several stage plays, has four self-published books, has acted in several independent films and is currently in the final stages of production of her feature horror film, Penny for the Guy.
She now writes full time as well as co-owning a film, photography & video production company located in the heart of Redditch town centre.
Twitter: @CKovachAuthor
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