#amreading: The Chasm, Bronwyn Hall (#auscrime)
#amlistening: The Sentence is Death, Anthony Horowitz (#ukcrime)
Every town needs somewhere to hide their secrets. Andy King knew she should never return to Stonefield. Ten years ago, her boyfriend Will Hoffman disappeared without a trace and most people in the town thought she was to blame. But a decade is a long time to be homesick, and she isn't technically going back there. Only to Taplin, a small town in the neighbouring valley, far enough away from Stonefield she can stay under the radar, but close enough to the mountains that she can feel their pulse and breathe their special brand of oxygen. And it's only for four weeks, after all. But Andy didn't bargain on running into those who are still looking for Will, the ones who have the most to lose if he is ever found. Andy will go to her grave before she reveals what had happened back then, but when she realises that those same people have other secrets hidden in the mountains, it's clear she's once again in their way. And this time sending her to her grave is exactly their intention.
"You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late…"
These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer. Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine – a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise.
Odd, considering he didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?
Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne >and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s really getting rather good at this murder investigation business.
But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realises that these secrets must be exposed – even at the risk of death…