Virginia King seems incapable of writing a cliché. Even when she writes what she calls a traditional British mystery, it’s more original and unusual than that description implies. The plot is intricate and full of surprises, and the nature of the crimes reminds me a bit of the early British mystery novel, The Moonstone, in which the primary crime is the theft of a valuable and rare object, and the ancillary murder comes later. This book centers around art theft and forgery and duplicitous relationships—people who aren’t who they seem to be. The layers of trickery are believable yet entirely unpredictable.
I like Tiggy Jones. She’s refreshingly natural and self-assured. She makes contributions to solving the mysteries as amateur sleuth, daring to uncover the secrets she can while working with the police appropriately for incidents that are out of her scope.
As well as a riveting, ever-twisting mystery, this is also a book about friendship. An outstanding character is Tiggy’s teenaged friend and dog-walker, Baxter. I applaud King for creating one of the rare autistic characters I’ve come across in fiction who is whole and real with positive talents and aspirations. His neurodivergence is his operating system, neither inferior nor superior to the neurotypical, and he navigates the world aware of this. The rapport between him and Tiggy is genuine, transcending differences in age and neurotype. Baxter’s honesty and bluntness, and the reliable support from Tiggy’s friends Henry and Rupert, contrast with the deviousness of her supposed best friend Nessa. In a way, Nessa herself is a mystery
If you enjoy an intense multi-layered story that will keep you guessing, read this. I look forward to the next installment in the series.
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