Hiding Places by Katherine Webb

The perfect book group read for fans of Kate Morton, Rachel Hore and Santa Montefiore.

A secret buried so deep, only a liar could uncover it

'..towards the end, comes a twist in the plot so bold it will leave you blinking...A thoroughly satisfying read.' WI Life

One hot summer in 1922.

A house at the heart of the village.

A crime that will shock the community.

A man accused and two women with everything to lose.

When Donny Cartwright is accused of murder, his sister Pudding is determined to discover the identity of the real killer.

Together with newcomer, Irene, she begins to uncover the truth - a secret that has been buried for years.

But when they happen upon a strange object, hidden in the past, they realise it will change everything . . .

- Story was boring and impossible to follow. At the end names were changed to fit the authors wanted outcome. The author misleads the reader in order to have a shocking ending, however it's not shocking or clever, it's just nonsense.

- I was enjoying this book until almost the end then I don’t know what happened it was like half the characters aged by 50 years and half were the same age as the book started. Don’t read the book if you have not started the end will leave you so confused it is pathetic. I am so sad I wasted time reading this book.

- Most of book was interesting enough. The ending was abrupt, confusing, and dissappointing.

I- t reads like a tapestry of a time gone by and each of the characters are woven into the scene with style – Charmingly stubborn Pudding, Mute Clemmie, Alistair and new wife Irene who remains an outsider, having escaped something from London. Then there’s the family everyone is told to avoid.

The murder takes place at least 100 pages into the story but it’s the build up and scene setting which brings the shocks. Each character is carefully crafted and lovely placed in the scenes, the reader gets to see Slaughterford – the early morning dew to the low lying sky at night – you can almost see the changes of the seasons as you turn the pages.

Pudding and Irene form a unique friendship and alliance (You’d just have to friends with a girl named Pudding!) and their search for the truth reveals a lot more about the village and its people than they ever could have imagined.

There’s so much to immerse yourself in here – and not just the fields of hay – the lazy village feel, the farming landscape and the stain of murder on a tranquil part of the British countryside.

Katherine lives up to her name and weaves a web of mystery and suspicion with vivid characters, a ramshackle location and a quietly bubbling plot.
Slaughterford – a village with secrets, shadows and more. The suggestion of witchery goings on, the suspicions which haunt the village, began to haunt me. Slaughterford is eerily recreated as a bygone mystery and Webb weaves her magic, pulling all the threads together so when, at the end, you step back the tapestry is even more impressive than you thought.