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The Brim Reaper (Style & Error Mystery #3)
Diane Vallere

The Forth Conspiracy

The Forth Conspiracy - Thomas Thorpe William Darmon and his wife Elizabeth, owners of Mayfair Hall, fall victim to rival Forth family who introduce a bill into Parliament called the Writ of Confiscation. It will repossess the Darmon's ancestral home unless they can find their missing deed. A late family friend hid the document on a trip to Egypt decades earlier, leaving a clue to its location only visible in the night sky of 1825. As the Darmons begin to unravel the mystery, a Forth body turns up on their doorstep.

The Forth Conspiracy is a fun and intriguing mystery novel. I was captivated immediately and nearly read this entire book in one night. Once I picked it up I was so fascinated by the story that I couldn’t put it down. The search for the missing deed to the Mayfair Hall property takes the William Darmon and Charles Bagwell on an adventure around the world as they embark on a mission to not only locate the deed but to solve a generations-old family mystery. While the men are away travelling around the world their wives, Elizabeth and Emily, wage war against the imposing Forth family. It was exciting and suspenseful from the opening chapter! I loved how unpredictable the storyline was and how deeply involved I became in this family’s quest to save their home. Every turn of the page held new surprises and it was a very enticing plotline.

Just imagine the story…two men travelling around the world to solve a family mystery and save their home while their two wives are at home trying to hold on as long as they can before their home is seized. Then, as if that isn’t stressful enough, the dead body of a Forth family member is found on their property. The mysteries are more than abundant in The Forth Conspiracy and yet it all balances very well and stops short of becoming confusing or overwhelming.

This book was also very beautifully written. It was eloquent and descriptive from the beginning to the very last word. It was easy to get lost in the prose and script. It was a well-written, well-edited and captivating story. Factually the history was detailed and accurate (at least as far as I could tell).

The Forth Conspiracy is actually the second book in Darmon Mysteries but it can easily be read as a stand-alone book. I’ve never read any of Thomas Thorpe’s six other works and yet I fell into this story easily and seamlessly. If you are unfamiliar with Thomas Thorpe’s work, as I was, please do not allow this to dissuade you from reading The Forth Conspiracy. I am certain that you will enjoy this book as much as I did. If there is any flaw at all with this book I would have to admit that it is the cover. This book is a great reminder that we should never judge a book by its cover. Admittedly, when I first received The Forth Conspiracy I cringed slightly at the cover for this amazing story. The green title bar is out of place and image of Egypt is blurry but that is all overlooked and entirely forgotten once the book is opened and the first page is read. If I could give any advice to the author it would be to invest in an artist to create cover art to give this book the visual respect that it is greatly deserves! The story is captivating, suspenseful and overall a near flawless mystery.

Review by Ashley LaMar
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