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This is Ware’s fifth published book. All are centered around different themes; all quite engrossing and generally impossible to put down without finishing them. “The Turn of the Key” is no different in the sense of being a well written, well thought out book that quickly captures and holds the reader’s interest. It is a ghost story complete with strange sounds, eerie settings and things that go bump in the night.

Rowan Caine works at a large child care center in England and has just been passed over for a promotion that she feels she deserves. While glancing at help wanted ads, she comes across one that lists an opening in a remote area of Scotland. The job is to become nanny to four children. It lists a very high salary, residence at the home with food and board paid. She applies for the job and is asked to travel, expenses paid, to the home.

She is pleasantly surprised when she is offered the job, accepting it and relocating to the house. This is the first surprise for her. The house, owned by two architects who run their own business from home, has been rebuilt with every modern and computerized piece of equipment that can be imagined. Everything is automatic and managed via cell phone making Rowan ecstatic by her good luck.

Bill and Sandra, the architects, indicate that a necessary business trip has come up and they are forced to leave Rowan alone with the children at once. Rowan takes it in stride, but soon regrets the quick departure of her employers. On her first night alone with the children she hears strange sounds which appears like someone or something walking on the roof of the house. Next night a sudden and loud blast of music coming over the loudspeakers wakes everyone up and supplies the great fright when the cause of the music being turned on can not be found. Rowan than finds out that the previous owners of the home many years ago had a child of theirs, a young girl, die from eating something poisoned.

All the factors do make the case for a haunting and Rowan, with the aid of the resident handyman living on the property, attempts to get through her own trepidation and protect the children in her care from whatever is out there. There is a well done ending after which the reader can gasp for breath, realizing that Ware has done it again and looking forward to book six from this versatile author.

8/19 Paul Lane

THE TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware. Gallery/Scout Press (August 6, 2019). ISBN 978-1501188770. 352p.

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Nathan and Adam are two 10 year old boys that are best friends. They stay together, play together and explore the area they live in completely together. Near their homes there is a huge facility that is known as the Lunatic Asylum. And that in spite of its non politically correct designation it was. It was a hospital dedicated to the care and treatment of mentally disabled individuals.

One day, when coming near to the fence surrounding the institution, the boys spotted a man sitting on the other side and ventured over to talk to him. He sounded quite lucid, told them his name was Joe and the three struck up a relationship that continued for quite a while. They visited the spot where Joe was at and among other things found that he was an artist before he was sent to the asylum. Even while there he drew many things including the happenings occurring in and the people residing in the institution.

One day Joe did not meet them and they didn’t see him again. The meetings were forgotten and the boys grew up, forgetting Joe and eventually opening an office together. One had become a private investigator due to several years of employment as a police officer and the other a psychologist after university training. They hired a secretary and began doing business when out of the blue a letter from a solicitor was received asking to meet with both boys, now men.

Meeting with him they had the most pleasant surprise of learning that Joe, the man they had talked with at the asylum had remembered them. Not only remembered them but left them each a large sum of money. It seemed that Joe had been a successful artist and made money selling his paintings. His memories of the boys were very pleasant

One favor was asked in return – to investigate happenings at the asylum and about Joe. This favor throws them into discovery of the most heinous breach of ethics and normal behavior possible. How they go about this and where it leads, how is Joe involved form the real meat and bones of the novel. This book is Adams’ first published one and showcases the entrance of a gifted author allowing his readers to pick up and enjoy his forthcoming novels. Very well done.

8/19 Paul Lane

ASYLUM by Jack Adams. Atlas Productions Pty Ltd (August 2, 2019). ISBN 978-0994182203. 310p.

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From the publisher:

The revered New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman.

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know—everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl—assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

Cleo Sherwood was a young black woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie—and the dead woman herself. Maddie’s going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, wants to be left alone.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her life—a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people—including the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.

One of my favorite books back when I was in junior high & high school, was Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk. Wouk is much better know for The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance, despite the fact that Morningstar was made into a so-so movie starring Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly. I’m telling you this because apparently, it is also one of Lippman’s favorite books and it is the inspiration for The Lady in the Lake. Morningstar was a stage name, the protagonist was a nice Jewish girl named Marjorie Morgenstern who eventually marries Milton Schwartz, as does Lippman’s Maddie Morgenstern Schwartz. Hope this isn’t too confusing!

So a couple of the characters have the same/similar names to the Wouk book, and the timeline is similar but the real similarity is that both women, Marjorie & Maddie, want more out of life than to just be a suburban mom. In the mid-twentieth century, women didn’t have many opportunities do do more than that, but these women did.

Maddie leaves her husband and teenage son (who refuses to move in with his mom) and tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She fakes a robbery to collect the insurance money, has an affair with a black cop, finds a dead body and pushes her way into a job at the local Baltimore newspaper. One of the themes of this book was the struggle female journalists had in reaching any level of success in the profession back in the 1960’s; racism is a bigger theme.

I really like the way Lippman gets into every character’s head, most have at least a chapter told in their voice so you really know what they are thinking, it adds a lot to the story. Cleo’s voice is especially compelling, especially as the story moves on. They mystery is tight but almost secondary to the characters.

Sometimes, when an author writes a series, I’ve noticed I sort of take the writing for granted. That becomes especially apparent in this standalone; it is a brilliant piece of writing from one of the best writers out there. Don’t miss it. (And check out Terry Gross’s interview with Lippman on Fresh Air, and Lippman’s essay in the CrimeReads blog. See links below.)

7/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman. William Morrow (July 23, 2019).  ISBN 978-0062390011.  352p.

Listen to Terry Gross interview Laura Lippman on Fresh Air

Laura Lippman: My 35-Year Love Affair with Marjorie Morningstar

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