Written by Lesley Pearse
Twenty-three year old Katy Speed is fascinated by the house across the street.
The woman who lives there, Gloria, is the most glamorous neighbour on the avenue, owning a fashionable dress shop in Bexhill-on-Sea. But who is the woman who arrives in the black car most Saturdays while Gloria is at work? Sometimes she brings women to the house, other times they have children.
Hilda, Katy’s mother, disapproves of Gloria. She wonders if these mysterious visitors have just been released from prison. Is Gloria secretly bringing criminals, or worse, into the heart of the community?
Then one night, the house burns down. In the wreckage, the bodies of Gloria and her daughter are found. Katy is sure the unexplained visitors must be responsible until her father is arrested and charged with murder. Have the police arrested the correct person? Are the rest of the street safe?
Can Katy find the truth before it’s too late?
Plenty Going On! 
Not my first book by this author, but definitely in a more modern setting than I’m used to from her. Still a darn good read!
Katy Speed, at 23, still lives at home with her parents as was pretty much the norm at the time. Interested in what goes on around her, Katy is fascinated by the visitors to the house across the street, and often wonders what is going on there. When that house is ablaze in the middle of the night, it sets off a chain of events which are to impact deeply on the Speed family.
Katy is a very likeable character; she loves her family but has a desire to have more excitement in her life than Bexhill-on-Sea has to offer. The fire in the house opposite sets off a chain of events which no-one could predict. A bit of a family saga, with friendship, romance and a good dollop of mystery thrown in along with secrets to be discovered, this one demanded my attention from first to last. Creative, interesting characters and smoothly flowing writing brings the various story strands together in a compelling and realistic read and certainly one true to the period it’s set in. As a child of the sixties, I always find it strange when books set around that time are described as ‘historical’. I enjoyed this one and whilst I couldn’t find fault with it, I somehow find that I enjoy the author’s books set in an earlier time that bit more.
My thanks to publishers Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin UK, for providing my copy via NetGalley. This is my honest, original and unbiased review.
Tags: mystery, romance, suspense
- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 5601 KB
- Print Length: 352 pages
- Publisher: Michael Joseph
- Publication Date: 6 September 2018
- Purchase Links: Amazon UK
Meet the Author
Lesley Pearse was told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. When she grew up she worked her way through a number of jobs, including nanny, bunny girl, dressmaker and full-time mother, before, at the age of forty-nine, settling upon a career that would allow her gifts to blossom: she became a published writer. Lesley lives in Devon and has three daughters and three grandchildren.
Find out more about Lesley and keep up to date with what she’s been doing:
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Grace J Reviewerlady 