Homecoming

Author: Kate Morton
Genre: Historical Fiction / Mystery
Publisher: Mariner Books, 2023
Pages: 560
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959. At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand and mysterious house, a local deliveryman makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia. 

Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. Until a phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

At Nora's house, Jess discovers a true-crime book that chronicles the police investigation into a long-buried event: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once infamous scandal - a murder mystery that has never been resolved satisfactorily.

Review: Usually when I finish a book, I can't wait to blog about it, but this one was different. I had to think about what I had just read and my thoughts about it. This was my first Kate Morton novel.

On one hand, the reader gets to know the characters well. On the other, there are a lot details. On one hand, it's a long and winding road. On the other, it's a transportive novel. The author clearly wasn't rushed. While most books are sitcoms, this was a Christmas special. There were so many random details that I knew some had to be significant to the story, but which ones. As it turns out, in the end, all of them were important.

Homecoming meandered along, and then bam bam bam, it all came together and I was left thinking, "whoa, what just happened?" I haven't determined if this is a good thing or not. I'll need to read another Kate Morton novel before I draw conclusions about this author.