The Death of Mrs. Westaway

Written by Ruth Ware

Narrated by Imogen Church

Nearly three million copies of Ruth Ware’s books sold worldwide.

The highly anticipated fourth novel from Ruth Ware, the Globe and Mail and New York Times bestselling author of the In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game.

Harriet Westaway—better known as Hal—makes ends meet as a tarot reader, but she doesn’t believe in the power of her trade. On a day that begins like any other, she receives a mysterious and unexpected letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but she also knows that she can use her cold-reading skills to potentially claim the money.

Hal attends the funeral of the deceased and meets the family...but it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and that the inheritance is at the center of it.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: Sep 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781982120443

Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail (Toronto) bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Woman in Cabin 10; The Lying Game; The Death of Mrs. Westaway; The Turn of the Key; One by One; The It Girl; and Zero Days. Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on Twitter @RuthWareWriter.

Reviews for The Death of Mrs. Westaway

[todd reeves · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great read. Kept me guessing until the very end.

[Val Menzies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The mother part of the story I found very confusing. If she was raised by Maud, why was Maud so dark when earlier she had been described as blonde? I believe the book was rambling at times but the basic storyline was good. It would make an interesting movie.

[melanie anderson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I feel like I would’ve rated in a four-star but they’re beginning was so long and drawn out to get to the end

[cari · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As a tarot reader myself i enjoyed that twist and enjoyed the story as well. Narrator is always good

[Maria Weiss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ruth Ware is added to my list of great Authors ,loved the twists and turns of the story excellent

[tanner1keller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Woooooooww. Im scared. IM SAD. IM BLOWN AWAY. Read this or listen or whatever!!

[Dkg Mayvile · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best book I have heard. A wounder read !

[celia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Love the way this lady writes. Some similarities but essentially a great read.

[Sabrina Laverdière · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Story too long for what it’s worth. Put it in 1.2-1.5x speed

[Brianna Petersen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a great read I was sad when it ended

[Mark Kolt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great narration, and a well structured, engaging narrative. Quite enjoyed this!

[bons_11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This gothic suspense gets an extra point for beautiful writing.

[castlelass · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Contemporary fiction and family mystery set in England. The protagonist, Harriet (aka Hal) gets a letter informing her she is named as a beneficiary in a will. Lies, secrets, and mistakes abound in this story of a dysfunctional family and a young woman they had not met previously, now an heir to the family estate. I am not a huge fan of mysteries, but this one held my interest and kept me up late reading.

First, the positives:
• It was very compelling. I kept turning the pages to find out what happens.
• It was complex, not easily figured out, and involved many layers of mystery. Just about everyone in the family was keeping at least one secret from the others.
• Characters were well-developed, especially Harriet and Mrs. Westaway’s adult children.
• Invoked a strong sense of place… an old, run-down mansion, a small English town in the country, the small shack of the tarot reader on the pier.

A couple issues were:
• It contained a plethora of plot devices. I don’t mind a few, especially in a mystery. Some explanation is needed for what happens; however, I prefer it when intrinsic motivations explain actions rather than external circumstances.
• It bogged down a bit in the middle, where not much happened, mostly family discussions and wandering around the mansion, traveling back and forth multiple times.

Although mysteries are not my first choice in books, I found it entertaining and enjoyed the reading experience. Recommended to fans of mysteries, especially those involving family drama.

I received an advance reader's copy through Goodreads Giveaway in return for a candid review.

[thewallflower-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read this because my wife is reading it for book club. So far I’ve read The Dutch House and tried The Lake House and The Women in the Castle. (Why do so many book club books have to do with houses? Houses aren’t characters, they’re settings. Unless it’s Smart House.)I probably only kept reading because there’s an angle in this: tarot reading. Of course, I don’t believe in fortune-telling, but I also don’t know anything about tarot cards. I like learning new things, so that kept me intrigued up to the catalyst.But if you saw Knives Out, you already know what’s going to happen. The valid descendants don’t get any inheritance, the nobody gets it all. They call it a crime novel, but it’s not, because no crime has been committed. It’s just a gothic romance like Wuthering Heights.Being family-less, the nobody makes a bond with the black sheep family member. The other relatives are crabby and snobby and spoiled. (Another thing that keeps coming up in these book club books–rich people.) It’s not paced well at all. I skipped all the thinking (so much thinking). This girl is very concerned what people she doesn’t know think of her.The thing about characters is that you have to care about them, we know this. But this can come in two flavors. There are bad characters you hate. I don’t mean “love to hate” like Dolores Umbridge or Nurse Ratched. I’m talking about poorly made characters like Bella Swan or Holden Caulfield or that girl in 50 Shades of Gray who doesn’t know what a butt plug is. This character is not like that. I don’t want her to die… but I don’t want to save her either.She elicits no sympathy because she’s so whiny and naive. Every line is like “why is looking at me? Is he looking at me? Why me? I’m just plain old Jane.” She’s supposed to be a dockside fortune teller, but she doesn’t have an ounce of charisma. I didn’t believe she could entice customers or convince them that her “powers” are real. She must be the world’s worst shyster. No wonder she had to borrow money from a loan shark who never comes back in the end. That’s the biggest flaw in the book, and maybe the killer flaw in any book.

[huntersun9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was just okay. The premise was interesting but I found the writing too repetitive: "I shouldn't be doing this." "She knew she shouldn't be doing this." "Why did she lie?" "Why did he lie to me?" "I shouldn't be doing this." I guessed the twist which doesn't bother me in itself. I just didn't feel like this was good, well-structured writing.

[japaul22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoy Ruth Ware's mysteries. This one is about a lonely, poor young woman in a dangerous situation who finds herself named to inherit a large fortune. But the family she inherits with it is both full of secrets and possibly the bigger reward.

[indygo88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Harriet ("Hal"), still grieving from the loss of her mother a couple years earlier, is doing her best to make ends meet. Despite this, she's in debt and running from a loan shark. When she receives notification that her grandmother has died and left her an inheritance, she knows there must be a mistake (since her grandmother died years earlier), but being in financial jeopardy, she decides to try to play it off and see if she can claim the money. After all, she has nothing to lose. When she arrives at the family's estate, she meets her supposed uncles and though they don't catch on right away, she suspects something isn't quite right. Secrets loom underneath, somehow connecting her mother to this family, but just how exactly?I started this on audio because I just love the way Imogen Church brings Ruth Ware's novels alive, though I finished with my hardcover copy because I was snowed in and couldn't wait until I was back out in my car to finish. This is now the 4th of Ware's novels that I've read, and though they always suck me in, they do tend to follow a formula. Her main characters are typically borderline non-likeable and indecisive. But yet I get sucked in every time.I do think this was perhaps one of her better novels. There were aspects of the plot that I guessed early on, but other portions that kept me guessing. And even though the main character is sometimes annoying, you do have to root for her (though the name "Hal" threw me off repeatedly, as I consider that a man's name).

[completely_melanie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hal receives word that her grandmother, Hester Westaway, has passed away and she is named in the will. Hal knows that there has been some sort of mistake and that she is not the person they are looking for. Only thing is that Hal is in desperate need of some funds to get a scary loan shark off her back, so she decides to go for it and see what she can get from this will. Only things are so much more complicated than she ever could have imagined and she discovers that she does have some kind of link to this family after all. Some parts I figured out pretty early on but not everything. All in all I really enjoyed it and read through it super fast! I would give this a 3.5.

[purple_pisces22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this! Her best so far on my opinion. But I’m also into tarot and such, so I found that part fascinating because it was so on the mark! If Ms. Ware is not familiar with tarot, she certainly did her homework. It makes a big difference to me if an author tries to squeak by with a little bit of fact instead of actually really knowing about what they are writing. Overall, good story, outcome was not totally unexpected, but a great read!

[deaconbernie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story provides a superb mystery but the narrative is ponderous. I think it is a daring writer who would propose a murder mystery such as this one. The principle character is very well developed. Many of the others lack depth.

[jeanbmac · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another great book by a great writer.

[stephanie_m-868484 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very thrilling novel that I enjoyed from the very beginning. Not once was I bored from it. I figured out the main twist near the end, but this didn’t diminish the listening to the remainder of the audiobook.
The only part of the novel that annoyed me was the amount of magpies in the novel. That old rhyme is getting over-used in too many novels lately, and in this particular novel it was repeated too much.
The wonderful Imogen Church is the narrator, and she was great at keeping the many characters straight, and their different voices separate and unique.
4 stars and highly recommended to anyone who loves atmospheric novels.

[pegmcdaniel · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

On one hand, this novel had a lot going for it like a Gothic atmosphere including a large, run-down, old house with no central heating, a creepy housekeeper, magpies always hovering overhead, lots of of unkempt grounds, and an abandoned boathouse. The protagonist, Harriet (Hal), was a tarot card reader and throughout the novel, these tarot cards play a role. It was interesting how Hal interpreted the meaning of the cards and how they applied to various situations.On the other hand, the novel was slow-paced with a very long build-up. There were too many characters which made it hard to keep them straight, too many lies to keep track of, and many, many mentions of the weather. I got tired of reading about how cold it was both outside and inside the drafty house, how much it rained and snowed, how the clothes that Hal had were not warm enough, and how she was shivering and her teeth were chattering, then how much tea had to be drunk to help keep warm. Brrrrr.Hal struggles with her conscience as she pretends to be a long, lost granddaughter to recently-departed Mrs. Westaway. She had received a letter telling her that she has an inheritance and she knows that it's a mistake. However, because of indebtedness, she decides to check things out. As she becomes more involved with the rest of Mrs. Westaway's family, she realizes that she has gotten in much deeper than she should have. As the story evolves, Hal finds out what a dysfunctional family she is becoming a part of. There are some interesting twists but I could see some of them coming.I've read several of Ms. Ware's novels and this is a step up from the last one I read, The Lying Game.

[nwieme-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great mystery. Kept me reading.

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found the first half of this book to be slow moving and needlessly vague. I would guess that the author wished to let the plot slowly unwind, but so little happened in so many pages, my interest waned. And I would venture to say that her use of using pronouns in place of people’s names was meant to add mystery, but I found this “playing the pronoun game” annoying. Things picked up in the last half of the book and were wrapped up pretty nicely, but I was not sorry to get to the end of the novel.

[breic-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fast and fun. While the mystery was largely predictable, it wasn't 100% predictable, so there was a little balance that kept me reading. While the main character, Hal, was a bit annoying, it was in a believable, even endearing, way. I liked her point of view. I don't know that any of the other characters made sense.

[kayla.krantz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My absolute favorite of all of Miss Ware's books.

[kbranfield-837433 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware is a British mystery with a deliciously Southern gothic atmosphere.

Harriet "Hal" Westaway is a twenty-one year old woman who is struggling financially and is danger of losing not only her home but her livelihood. An unexpected missive from a lawyer detailing a possible inheritance is pretty much a godsend considering her current circumstances. The only catch? Hal knows she has received the letter in error. Despite a bit of mental wrangling, Hal decides to attend Hester Westaway's funeral and then attempt to bluff her way into inheriting what she assumes will be a paltry but much needed sum of money.  At the gloomy and rundown estate, Trespassen house, Hal is met by Mrs. Warren who is the home's crotchety and creepy housekeeper and the other heirs, Harding and his family, Abel and his partner Edward Ashby and Ezra, all brothers of her "mother" Maud.  Growing more and more uneasy with her plan, Hal is ready to abandon her "inheritance" but as she learns more about the family's history and her possible connection to them, she feels duty bound to try to uncover the secrets of Trespassen House and its occupants.

Hal has been eking out a living on the Brighton Pier as a tarot card reader but winter business is somewhat dicey due to the lack of tourists. She also finds herself at the mercy of an unscrupulous money lender whom she owes a great deal of money. Uneasy about her decision to hoodwink the Westaway heirs out of part of their inheritance, she nonetheless feels like they won't miss the trifling amount she thinks she will inherit. Hal feels a great deal of trepidation upon arriving at the gloomy, rundown estate but it is not until she is shown to her attic bedroom that she truly becomes worried about her scheme.

The reading of the will commences right away and Hal, along with her "uncles" are absolutely stunned over Mrs. Westaway's bequeaths.  With her fear growing about what will happen once the truth about her scheme is exposed, Hal grows more and more desperate to escape back to her regular life. Her uneasiness continues to grow with each passing hour and Hal plans to extricate herself from the tension-filled household as soon as possible. However, after discovering her mother's shocking connection to the Westaway family, Hal knows she has to find out the truth about this unexpected information. Her fateful decision could mean learning the truth about her father's identity but it also puts Hal's life in jeopardy as she continues digging into the past.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway is an incredibly atmospheric and suspense-laden mystery. Hal's experiences as a tarot-card reader provide her with an edge as she relies on her intuition and her mother's advice to ferret out information about the Westaway clan. Ada Warren is a menacing presence in the household and her enigmatic revelations are disquieting and vaguely threatening. Out of the three "uncles" Harding is the best developed while Ezra and Abel are somewhat indistinguishable from one another. This latest release from Ruth Ware features a delightfully moody setting and a clever plot that will keep readers guessing the truth about the Westaway family. Fans of the genre are going to absolutely love this twist-filled tale of murder and intrigue that is rife with family secrets.

[mrsgrits · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Slow burn, but a great book!

[khal_khaleesi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

(This review will be on my blog All the Ups and Downs soon).

When I first heard about The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware, it was one of those books that I knew I had to read. While it wasn't one of the best books I've read, it was still okay.

The pacing for The Death of Mrs. Westaway starts out very slow. There were times I was thinking about giving up on this book. Reading it felt like a chore, but I persevered. Luckily, it did get really good after about 70 percent through. The last 30 percent or so was really good, and I couldn't put the book down!

I felt the plot took forever to take off. At first, the plot read very boring. A girl tries to con some rich people out of an inheritance. This was the boring part. I felt like there was just too much focus on tarot cards and their meaning which also weakened the plot. However, the story line changed about 70 percent in, and I was enthralled with the actual plot. There were some plot twists, and while some were predictable, there were a few that I didn't see coming. I would guess the outcome of the story, and I would be wrong.

The world building was very good. Even though I was bored through most of this book, I felt the world in which Ruth Ware created for The Death of Mrs. Westaway was written very well. Everything was believable. I could picture myself being in Hal's world the whole time. Ruth Ware does a great job of describing everything that is going on in a scene, so it's easy to feel like you're part of the story.

I did enjoy the characters. I liked Hal although sometimes I felt like she was a bit dense. Sometimes things were so painfully obvious, but Hal would be oblivious to them. Mitzi and Ezra were my favorite characters. I loved how charming Ezra came across, and I loved how Mitzi could be motherly and nurturing as well as the voice of reason. All of the characters in The Death of Mrs. Westaway are likable though.

There are scenes of violence, drinking, smoking, and swearing.

Overall, The Death of Mrs. Westaway isn't a great book. I'll probably forget about it in the near future, but it is a decent read. The last 30 percent or so is what really saved this book from being a dud. It does have great characters, and the world building is done well. I would still recommend The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware to others.