The Lake House by Kate Morton

This is another book from the pile my hubby got me for my birthday.

I don't know what I liked more, the unfolding of the whodunit mystery part of the story or the unfolding of the family secrets and history part of the story so I wont choose. The two together made this an engrossing read, the kind that pulls you in and makes you feel like you are falling into it.

As for the whodunit piece, every damn time I thought I had it untangled there was a reveal that proved me wrong and a new but fully believable twist would happen. I LOVED THAT!!!!

The entire story, both the family tale of love, loss, and secrets kept and revelaed, and the mystery itself center around the vanishing of the Edevane's youngest child, baby Theo in 1933.

What happened? Why? Where is baby Theo and is he even still alive?

Connected to the early 2000's through Sadie, a detective on a forced leave because of a misstep she took at work when she let her feelings get involved in her working a case of a child left alone by her mother and the grandmother insisting her daughter would never leave the child alone. While on leave she goes to Cornwall to visit her grandfather. While there licking her wounds she discovers a long neglected estate and something about it draws her in and the puzzle solving part of her that drove her to detective works is sure there is something about this house to investigate. This brings Sadie into the baby Theo mystery, one she won't let go of until she solves it.

Alice Edevane is in her 80's, best selling mystery writer, and is finishing her 50th novel. She is also Theo's sister and she thinks she knows what happened to her brother and isn't sure she wants it exposed when Sadie first reaches out to her. This brings in the thread that unravels to reveal the history of love, pain, loss, devotion, and secrets that are the legacy of her family. Even this didn't go where I thought it was heading and I was glad it ended up where it did, and to avoid spoilers I won't say more about it.

This was my first Kate Morton read, but I think somewhere in my pile of TBR books is another, The Distant Hours. Either way, I will be seeking out more by her, I really liked her style.

(Finished August 20, 2018)