A Dark Matter by Douglas Johnstone
A well-known Edinburgh family, the owners of a long-running funeral home, and private detectives…
When Jim, the patriarch, passes away, his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny, and granddaughter Hannah are left to run both companies, which sets off an unforeseen chain of events. Jim may not have been the husband Dorothy thought he was as she finds out about some odd payments to another woman. The basic adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something weirder and far worse than any of them could have anticipated. Hannah’s best friend Mel has disappeared from the university.
Secrets from the past come to light as the women battle to cope with their loss and the responsibilities of the business threaten to overtake them, changing everything.
A Dark Matter by Douglas Johnstone
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A Dark Matter introduces a cast of unforgettable characters and serves as the first book of an engrossing new series. It is a compelling, stressful, and disturbing thriller as well as a darkly humorous and loving depiction of a family in crisis.
The basic scenario is that the Skelf family runs a private eye firm in addition to a funeral parlour with a lengthy history. When the patriarch Jim passes away, his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny, and granddaughter Hannah are left to run both companies.
Hannah, Dorothy’s granddaughter and the sole owner of the company following the passing of her husband Jim, is devastated when her friend Mel vanishes. When it seems that the police are not interested in helping, she starts looking into Mel’s disappearance on her own and takes matters into her own hands. Hannah is tenacious and fiercely motivated to learn what happened to her Mel. However, her mother’s attention is currently diverted by a different mystery. Jenny, Hannah’s mother, has learned that the company is still making payments to a former employee’s wife who likewise mysteriously vanished. She becomes suspicious that her father, Jim, may have been involved in the man’s abduction since she cannot comprehend why the company is still paying this money. Did he make a deal with the wife of his former employee to keep her from speaking out about the situation?
The plot of the book is amazing, and the writing is superb. Since I was so engrossed in the plot, I felt myself actually liking or being angry at each of the relatable characters.
