His historical novels include the Nick Revill series, set in Elizabethan London, a Victorian sequence, and a series of Chaucer mysteries, now in in e-books.
T.M. Logan, author of the best-selling Lies, has come up with a novel twist on the book you might want to read on the beach or lounging by the pool in that rented villa in the south of France. Why not actually set the murder mystery on the beach or in that rented French villa?
Kate and three girl friends from university days in Bristol are about to hit their 40s. Instead of the short week-end breaks they used to take as a foursome, they decide to spend a whole week in Languedoc, this time with husbands and children in tow. Luckily, glamorous Rowan is in PR and has a client who’s only too happy to loan them the requisite villa, complete with infinity pool, wine cellar and vineyard. What could possibly go wrong..?
Everything, of course. Within a few moments of their arriving Kate discovers messages on her husband’s mobile. She’s already suspicious of Sean and the texts seem to confirm that he’s having an affair, and furthermore with one of the three women they’re spending the week with.
Maybe Kate’s suspicious nature is sharpened by her job as a crime scene investigator for the Met. Watchfulness turns to paranoia and every glance, touch and word between Sean and any of her old girl-friends convinces Kate that it must be her...or maybe her...or even her.
These shifting suspicions occupy most of The Holiday as the evidence seems to point one way, now another. To vary the narrative viewpoint T.M. Logan switches perspective occasionally. The other women, all of whom have had some connection to Sean in the past, have their say. So do the husbands, who include a slightly creepy therapist and a volatile hedge-funder, and their offspring, ranging from troubled teens to whiny kids. It becomes obvious that whatever is - or has been - going on is somehow connected to the children.
The murder doesn’t come until very late in the day and Kate’s police expertise isn’t really required even then. Logan does a pretty good job of keeping the plates spinning until then. Revelations are conveniently postponed, confessions interrupted, diversions explored. I read to the end more to find out what was going on than whodunnit but The Holiday will pass your time agreeably whether on the beach or by the pool.
