The Paramour’s Daughter
Maggie MacGowan #10

By Wendy Hornsby

        Maggie MacGowen returns with another baffling mystery. This time out Maggie is keeping herself as busy as possible with work as she grieves the death of her husband Mike Flint. It’s the night before Thanksgiving and she has to prepare and buy comestibles for her contribution to the meal at her mother’s on the holiday. At the store a strange woman stops Maggie and insists that she is her real mother!

Maggie reports the woman to store security and she is taken out. Taken out entirely when she is killed in a hit and run incident. Maggie talks to law enforcement and then goes on her way to Thanksgiving at her mother’s house. As the truth is unveiled Maggie’s world is rocked and she goes to France to meet more of her previously unknown family and to bring her biological mother’s ashes there.

By now this has turned into a murder mystery and a very well crafted one. I enjoyed the story immensely and became immersed in reading about France. Wendy Hornsby is a masterful writer who knows how to draw her readers into her stories so deeply that it’s hard to put the book down and even harder to have it come to an end. It is easy to see why she is an Edgar Award Winner.

Mystery readers will be thrilled with this book, especially if they have read others in the series (although it’s not necessary to have done so.) History buffs and those who have traveled to France will also be delighted. It’s a novel to be savored and shared with your friends or family as well. It would also be good for book groups as there are many discussion points and highlights to discuss. Enjoy!

Reviews of other titles in this series

In the Guise of Mercy #6
The Paramour’s Daughter #7
The Color of Light #9