A Final Reckoning

Chantal Frazer, the heroine of this spine-tingling thriller from Moody (Dancing in the Dark), has existed in a strange limbo since age 12, when her adored older sister, Sabine, was brutally slain while working as an au pair at Weston Lodge in the Cotswolds, along with her charges, 12-year-old George and 13-year-old Edward Palliser. The Honorable Clio Palliser, the boys’ allegedly mentally unstable mother, was convicted of the murders. A native Californian, Chantal went on to study art history at Pomona College like Sabine, and fulfill her sister’s dream career of working as an art expert at a London auction house. Now, 23 years after Sabine’s death, she discovers that Weston Lodge is being converted into an upscale hotel. On a vacation there, Chantal meets various people who knew her sister and the Palliser family, but, as she probes deeper into old horrors, realizes that she may be putting her own life at risk. The hideous and long-buried truth will catch most readers by surprise. (Nov.)