Inheritance of Secrets

YA author Bates (Off the Rim) makes her adult debut with an ambitious if at times awkward blend of contemporary thriller and period adventure yarn. Bestselling Australian novelist Juliet Dunne is blindsided by her grandparents’ murders in their Adelaide home, and can’t begin to imagine what, outside of a robbery gone wrong, could have led to the slaying of the loving German immigrants who raised her and her now-estranged older sister, Lily, after their father’s death and mother’s subsequent disappearance. Though Juliet’s lawyer boyfriend urges her to leave the investigation to the authorities, she can’t, especially once they suggest that longtime addict Lily might be involved. As Juliet scrambles to find her sister, prove the police wrong, and stay one step ahead of the mysterious men who seem to be tailing her, a second story line follows her grandfather from his adolescent romance with his wife-to-be back in Germany during WWII through his perilous passage to Australia and beyond. Though the vivid dual narratives share themes of love, family, loyalty, and betrayal, they ultimately fail to complement each other. Fans of historical fiction will best appreciate this one. (Nov.)