I’ve always preferred the titles written under the Barbara Vine name because they are less mystery/murder oriented and contain more character studies. Vine’s latest falls under this category. The book profiles 2 sets of brother-sisters. One set takes place in the present day and the other about 100 years ago. In each set the sister has a child early in life without a husband. In each set, the brother is gay. The two families are not connected, but rather compared in how society treats women who have children out of wedlock now and then. I wasn’t much interested in this aspect as much as delving into the dynamics of how the sisters and brothers related to one another. Each set of brother/sister stories do contain a murder, but that is not the focus. More so is how the relationship develops once a betrayal occurs. If you like Vine you’ll like this one. She’s more than a cozy mystery because you get to know her characters more deeply.
