The buffetings of misfortune and bad judgment bring two unloving sisters together under their aunt's roof where with different approaches they become entangled in a mildly terrifying international plot. By the end [of The Marchington Inheritance] all the dangling teasers and red-herrings have been fully sorted out and there is only one victim who is so lightly mourned that he was apparently expendable….

The suspense in this novel is on a par with the postman's anticipated daily delivery. A slight but not overpowering curiosity is evoked and held through the story. Most of the revelations at the end are telegraphed early in the book and depend on the inability or refusal of the characters to make connections. Avril, Ginevra, and Randy … are engaging and believable, but the rest of the characters come from the supernumerary stock at central casting. The atmosphere of old families going to seed is...