Family Plot

Family Plot (2014) Sherri Cobb South

Set in Scotland ~1808

Lady Fieldhurst has once again embarrassed her in-laws, and so she is sent to the country with the sons of the new Lord Fieldhurst. (The boys who discovered they were now bastards, as their father was a bigamist, yet still allowed to inherit the viscountcy.)

“And George is not just any man, but the seventh Viscount Fieldhurst. A title, as you must know, covers a multitude of sins.”

“How very fortunate for him, for he has certainly committed a multitude of them,” Julia muttered.

Because the boys are so unhappy, Julia makes an impulsive decision to change their plans and go to Scotland, so the boys can see the sea. And because Harold, the eldest, is still suffering from his discovered bastardy, they decided to travel under and assumed name–Mrs Pickett and her nephews.

I quite like the nephews. They’re entertaining.

“Can you recall her position?”

“I can!” Edward piped up. “I’m the one who found her. She was lying like this.” Without further ado, he flopped down onto the shingle, his head resting on his outstretched arm.

“That’s not right, Ned,” Harold told his brother. “It was her left arm that was stretched out, not her right. And her face was hidden, until I turned her over.”

“And she didn’t have a ridiculous grin on her face,” Robert added, poking Edward in the ribs with the toe of his shoe.

I quite like that, in the end, the boys get something back, after the misery brought down upon them by their father.

At the mention of their mother, the Bertram boys were stunned to see their father’s ill temper give way to shame-faced guilt. With dawning glee, they realized they might exploit this useful tool to gain almost anything their hearts desired.

Good for them!

As for the mystery, I quite enjoyed that as well, even though I saw where it was going.

What irritated me, however, was the last chapter, where the relationship between John Pickett and Julia Fieldhurst is fundamentally changed and yet we are left hanging.

Very, very annoying. I want to read the next book in a series because I enjoyed the previous book, not because we are left with a cliff-hanger.
Rating: 6/10

Published by Five Star Publishing

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