MYSTERY

The Day She Died

by Catriona McPherson
Midnight Ink. May 2014. 316p. ISBN 9780738740454. pap. $14.99. M
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When Gus King has a meltdown at a Marks & Spencer grocery story in Dumfries, Scotland, saying his wife has left him, bystander Jessie Constable offers to drive him and his child home. Somehow, she gets suckered into staying in a remote cottage and caring for Gus's daughter and infant son. Readers will be on high alert, but Jessie's distorted logic makes it seem appropriate. When news comes that Gus's wife died in a car-crash suicide, Jessie worries about her two young charges. Then she meets frightened Polish immigrant neighbors who are searching desperately for the dead woman's best friend, who has recently gone missing. Jessie is psychologically damaged by her own childhood demons, and Gus's confusing jumble of explanations keeps her and readers off guard. A chill overtakes us all.
VERDICT Keep the lights on and batten down the hatches, for McPherson's psychologically terrifying stand-alone demands to be read all night. Miles away from her witty and award-winning historical cozy series (Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains), Scottish author McPherson has written a top-notch tale of modern gothic suspense that is sure to please Charlotte Brontë and Daphne du Maurier fans.
Reviewed by Teresa L. Jacobsen , May 01, 2014
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