Description: A book review every week in 2024
It’s ironic that this review is going up the day before Father’s Day, since Christopher Huang’s Unnatural Ends is about one of the worst dads I’ve ever encountered in a work of fiction: Sir Lawrence Linwood, who rules over his Yorkshire estate with an iron fist. Since his wife was unable to bear children, Sir Lawrence took in three wards: Roger, Alan and Caroline. Now adults, they have all moved on from Linwood Hall; Alan is working as an archaeologist in Peru, Roger is an engineer with a glamorous girlfrie
Only one thing could bring them all back to Linwood Hall: their father’s funeral. When they are all assembled, their mother shares the shocking news that Sir Lawrence was in fact murdered. But there are even bigger surprises to come. The attorney representing the estate informs them that upon their mother’s death, Linwood Hall is to be sold, with the proceeds divided equally among the children. That is, unless Sir Lawrence’s death was due to “unnatural causes.” In that case, Roger, Alan and Caroline are cha
The local detective inspector is wary, not wanting the three amateurs to go traipsing around looking for clues, but naturally, they all begin investigating. They start in their father’s study, site of his murder, and learn that Sir Lawrence was beaten to death inside a room that had been locked from the inside. How did the assailant get in and out without leaving a trace? Flashbacks to the siblings’ childhood show how monstrous he was, and how much he relished pitting them against one another. It appears he