Final Settlement

Morganna Hutton, an orphaned painter and filthy rich heiress-to-be from Long Island, comes of age the hard way after she weds handsome, Scottish fortune hunter Archie Edge in the latest page-turner from Davies (Nest of Vipers). Archie's mother, the scheming antiques collector Rosamond Edge, helps her son fleece his young trusting wife of millions under the guise of renovating the family's rundown ancestral castle on Cape Wrath. By midbook, the proceedings take a Rosemary's Baby-like turn, and Morganna, who narrates in rapid-fire declarative sentences, must wise up before it's too late. A host of secondaries includes Geoffrey Hollander, a tall banker given to panic attacks who is Morganna's guardian from childhood, and Ben McIntyre, a terse shepherd who proves a loyal ally. Scottish financial thriller writer Davies once again proves expert in crafting absorbing suspense.