When the title of a murder mystery is “One Big Happy Family,” you can bet that this family will be anything but happy. And that’s the first clue in this suspense-filled tale by Jamie Day about the members of a fractured family reuniting because of the death of their father. George Bishop was a terrible father, a horrible husband, and a nightmare employer. No one is sorry he’s dead. But it’s time for the reading of his will, and his three daughters, some estranged and some semi-estranged, show up with their sons and spouses in tow to see what they are due to get from George’s rather substantial estate.
Charley Kelley is the main character and the person through whose eyes we see the events unfold. She had a rough childhood with a drug-addicted mother who died. She was then raised by her grandmother, who now is suffering from dementia, and Charley works as a maid at George’s hotel to make money to keep her beloved Nana in her memory care home.
The Precipice, the mansion that is a hotel, is such a strange place that it almost becomes another character in the story. It’s set in Maine on the edge (precipice, get it?) of a cliff. The eight guest rooms have different themes, and the whole place is filled, every nook and cranny, with all kinds of estate sale things, much of it worthless, that George has collected over the years. Chairs, paintings, statutes, vases, and knickknacks of all kinds and sizes fill the spaces.
On this particular weekend, hurricane Larry is coming. And as the violence of the storm grows, it is matched by the violence that has been unleashed inside the mansion. Charley and her new friend Bree, who is fleeing an abusive boyfriend, are the only outside witnesses to the fraught relationships between the three sisters, Vicki, Faith, and Iris. The only other outsider is an attorney, Brenda Black. We find out quickly, from Rodrigo, the front desk manager, that she’s an immoral person who will do anything for money. Rodrigo hates her passionately, but he leaves for the weekend before the hurricane hits, so he is gone when something happens to attorney Black. She disappears.
But before Black disappears, she shares the contents of George’s will with the family. The results are shocking to the three sisters, and they turn on Vicki’s husband Todd as they accuse him of manipulating George for his own benefit. There’s also the matter of a painting that George told Todd was worth a fortune, which he purchased at an estate sale for a song, but which was painted by an American master.
At one point in the story, we get a definite vibe of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” as we wonder if the residents of the mansion will, indeed, be killed one by one. There are cryptic poems left claiming dark secrets from the past that the sisters must confess to. No one knows who to trust, and Charley doesn’t trust any of them. She only trusts the absent Rodrigo and her new friend Bree. As the situations devolve and the sisters fight among themselves, things get truly frightening. The electricity goes off, and one of the sisters has a gun. There’s more violence to come, and the only thing more certain in store for those at The Precipice is that there will be twists and a revealing of secrets that no one was expecting.
After the darkness—literally, from the storm—and the strife, the ending is almost a relief. It’s not a happy ending, but it’s an ending with justice for almost all. The secrets from the past are revealed, and those who made it through the maelstrom are in a better position to face the future.
This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.