A Gingerbread House

June 1, 2021
McPherson shows four women's lives colliding in a life-or-death struggle in Scotland. Tash Dodd works at her parents' trucking firm, where she stumbles upon something that horrifies her. Apparently her father's business includes human trafficking. She plans to force him to turn over the business to her and then turn him in. Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Nine Lives League, Ivy, a middle-aged woman seeking a cat for companionship, meets Kate, who says that Ivy looks exactly like her sister, Gail, and, suggesting that they might be twins, invites her to their unusual home in Hephaw, West Lothian. Martine is a woman of mixed race who's searched her whole life for the identity of her father. At a genealogical meeting, she meets Kate, who claims to know who her father is and invites her to her house to meet her sister, Gail. Laura, an attractive woman in search of a fairy-tale life, tries an unusual dating service and is invited to a dinner dance at the home of Kate and her sister. Ivy, Martine, and Laura are all taken captive, drugged, and kept in a dank, putrid basement. Although they've all been reported missing, the police don't look very hard until Tash, who's been working for various van companies, goes on the run after her father refuses to give up control and ends up in an apartment overlooking an odd house in Hephaw. Trapped while investigating, she and the three brave captives plot to escape. A disturbing story of madness and fortitude that grabs your attention from Page 1.

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June 28, 2021
Set in the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland, this unsettling psychological thriller from Agatha Award winner McPherson (Strangers at the Gate) focuses on three strangers in their mid-50s—Laura, Martine, and Ivy
—all lonely women who work from home with no families or close friends. Outwardly friendly Kate
tricks each of them into visiting her big, dusty museum of a house, where Kate, who refers to the place as a “fairytale cottage,” and her knife-brandishing sister imprison them in the tomblike basement. Months go by, and Laura, Martine, and Ivy have no way out. Meanwhile, neighbor Tash Dodd, a bookkeeper in her father’s trucking business, discovers an ugly family secret. When Tash’s father threatens her, she seeks refuge at Kate’s house, where she winds up imprisoned with the three other women—and devises an escape plan. Some Scottish colloquialisms may confuse American readers, and extensive backstories make for a slow start, but once everyone’s lives begin to intertwine, the action picks up. Notwithstanding the uplifting ending, fans of McPherson’s lighter mysteries may want to take a pass. Agent: Lisa Moylett, CMM (U.K.).

August 1, 2021
Tash Dodd reflects on events following her realization that her parents are involved in a despicable crime. Tash creates and implements an elaborate plan to implicate them while protecting herself and her parents' employees' jobs. Meanwhile, three women who all live alone and work from home go to a fairy-tale cottage for different reasons, but they don't come out. Ivy seeks her sister, Martine her father, and Laura the love of her life. When Tash begins to research how easy it is for a woman to disappear and no one, including the police, seemingly cares, the story lines converge. As their stories slowly unfold, the horror of the three women's fates and the fear Tash feels as she hides from her family, beginning to believe her father may actually harm her to protect his secret, envelop the reader. A beautifully described Scottish setting; well-developed characters, especially the three women, their shadowy captors, and the principled, determined Tash; and multiple plot twists distinguish this creepy, unsettling novel of psychological suspense.

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