This was my first time reading any of Gail Bowen's books, and my introduction to Joanne Kilbourn as a character. I didn't even realize it was part of a series until after I was finished reading. It was great to find that out, because I loved the strength of her character and wanted to read more!

The balance of politics and mystery in this novel was perfect for me, as someone who doesn't care for overly political plots. The mystery surrounding the house was beautifully unveiled little bits at a time and, even though there were a couple parts that were predictable, I loved this story.

I will definitely be checking out Gail's other work, and go back to the beginning of Joanne's journey! ( )

I received a free copy of this book through the First Reads scheme on Goodreads. I have not read any of the previous 14 Joanne Kilburn novels, and perhaps that is why I found the cast of characters introduced in the opening chapters rather overwhelming. There seemed to me to be altogether too many characters, some of whom served no useful purpose (Joanne's sons, the family who randomly joined them at the lake at Thanksgiving, Margot etc), but maybe they appeared in earlier episodes and the author felt the need to keep them "current".

Joanne is the campaign manager for her husband Zack's candidacy for mayor of Regina (although, apart from a brief flurry of activity towards the end, this seemed to consist mainly of going shopping and chatting to people) and in the opening chapter Zack and a friend running for council (Brock) are opening a community centre they have set up. There is a rumour that their political enemies will kidnap a child to ruin the day (seems a bit extreme, but whatever...) and a slum landlord/former client of Zack's averts this and then turns up murdered. Zack then inherits said landlord's properties and the campaigning goes on.

I liked Joanne and Zack and some of the other characters were engaging/interesting, e.g. Jill and Milo, but too many of the (numerous) characters were only sketchily portrayed, e.g. Brock, Margot, Michael Goetz. I quite enjoyed the middle section - the revelations about Ian were truly shocking - and overall I felt the book was well-plotted, but the ending was a little rushed and left a bad taste in the mouth.

Things that troubled me:

- How readily Jill was forgiven and received back into the "family" by Joanne
- Why did Michael Goetz marry Slater Doyle?
- The kidnapping a child plot at the beginning should have been tied in again at the end
- Why did Nell Standingready agree to live at no.12, when she clearly knew something bad had happened to her grand-daughter there? How much did she know?
- Why was it acceptable for Michael Goetz and Slater Doyle to have sex with "two twinks - really young guys... no body hair", given that they were rightly appalled that Ellen was "just a child".
- Why did every one take so calmly Michael's admission that he had given Liz drugs to confuse her so that Graham could get all her money? I would have had him struck off and prosecuted without delay.

I won't be reading any others in this series. ( )