Published by Quercus Books, riverrun
Publication Date: 27th April 2023
Book Description:
It all started to go wrong the day the Wrights moved in next door
Myles and Lana Butler live on a gorgeous new development in Wimbledon, leaning on a mortgage that is just within reach. When one of Myles' investments fails they are bound to lose everything.
Gabriel and Holly Wright have just moved in next door. The Wrights are sophisticated, ambitious and apparently very wealthy. At an after-dinner drink with their new neighbours, Myles and Lana share their worries and a solution is suggested between the couples. Life Insurance fraud. For a cut of the pay out, the Wrights would help them.
No one thought they were being serious. No one agreed they'd actually go through with it. And no one mentioned it would involve murder.
Then, one night, Lana doesn't come home.
My Thoughts:
Myles and Lana Butler: the local GP and his beautiful wife. The impression of a successful life must be maintained at all costs. The truth of the situation is that Lana's father has financially supported them in their move to Belvedere Court, alongside a mortgage which was always only just within reach. Then an investment suggested by their bank manager goes spectacularly wrong, leaving Myles in danger of losing the house and everything they own. His panic about Lana discovering their precarious position leads him to make some decidedly dodgy decisions - but none of these is a shadow of the proposition made to him at a dinner party with new neighbours Gabriel and Holly Wright.
A few weeks later, Gabe manages to secure admission for them all to a gala dinner - the perfect chance for Myles to network professionally in the hope of establishing some new contacts and potentially new opportunities. Lana never makes it home after the event, and from there on in life will never be the same for Myles - the pace picks up and quickly spirals out of his control. He is well and truly out of his depth. Can he manage to get both his work and personal life back under control or will the authorities in both cases get to the answers before him? Many of the characters are decidedly shady, and it really is a race against time which will determine the outcome for Myles.
This is an excellent storyline which will have you trying to work things out even when you don't have the book in your hand - whether it would be as easy to emulate a person's disappearance as easily as the book suggests, I'm not convinced but it does make for a cracking read!
About the Author:
Olivia Kiernan is an Irish writer living in the UK. She was born and raised in County Meath, near the famed heritage town of Kells and holds an MA in Creative Writing awarded by the University of Sussex. The Murder Box is the fourth book in the acclaimed Frankie Sheehan series.
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