What would you do if your family wanted you dead?
It’s a terrifying thought right?
In life, it’s often the people closest to you that hurt you the most. Their toxic comments and actions can cut deep, affecting you on an emotional level.
It’s even more deadly when they harbour a grudge for years. It smoulders deep within their soul, watching and waiting for the right time to strike like vultures pecking at the bones of corpse.
This is a pretty extreme example, but I’m sure you will have experienced some kind negative altercation with friends, family or work colleagues over the years. Maybe not on such a severe level: I know I have!
Like the time when my wife’s uncle died
Because of his divisive last will and testament, I'll never forget the extremely uncomfortable wake, when half of the family sat in the kitchen; the other half in the open plan living room of the deceased's house; which, incidentally, had been left, along with his bank balance, to those sat in the kitchen.
I’ll also never forget how two of the male family members stared at the fireplace wall, while another relative seem to find his shoes rather fascinating, given that he glared at them for almost two hours.
The only mediator was my wife's cousin, who mingled between both factions in this cringe worthy situation, where clearly one party was aggrieved!
If you’re a certain age, I’m sure you will have experienced something similar. As the saying goes... when the monies divided so are the people!
The whole thing reminds me of the gripping scenes from my new, Detective Tom Blake novel...
A chilling psychological murder mystery full of suspense and deadly twists
It only takes one or two aggrieved relations, to cause disharmony and grudges within a family.
Even in modest families like mine, where everyone works for a living.
However, ultra-rich families and their back biting siblings, desperate to protect their inheritance, can take things much further!
Families like Annabelle Lancasters!
Annabelle is a charitable woman who likes to help those much less fortunate than herself. She’s worked for charities in Africa and operates an employment program for ex-offenders within her husband’s global pottery empire.
But her disappearance has left most of her family distraught; in particular her much older husband, Charles, and eighteen year old daughter Olivia, who’s blind, which is more than can be said for her older stepchildren: Philippa and David, who are hiding something.
Four days after her kidnap, Charles Lancaster uses his influence in the corridors of power to bring ex-FBI profiler, Lucy Stryker onto the case.
But given the ransom note he's received; the police believe it’s an open and shut case...
…until a headless body turns up in a remote Peak District pool, its back tattooed with a cryptic Tarot card.
As Detective Inspector Tom Blake and FBI profiler Lucy Stryker dig into the mystery, they unearth long-buried secrets about an historic conspiracy and a deadly cult at ...A Place of Reckoning!
'What an amazing storytelling talent J.F.Burgess has!!! A Place of Reckoning is an utterly gripping psychological thriller: a real page-turner.'
Audrey Gibson, Goodreads
'DI Blake and Lucy Stryker make a fantastic team to solve this dark mysterious case. It’s a crime thriller full of suspense which will grip you until the end… hugely enjoyable!'
Shiva Patel, Goodreads
