Marilyn's Mystery Reads

Have you ever noticed how the same person can appear so different to various people?  You may have a friend whom you think is a terrific conversationalist, while others think that person monopolizes every interaction.  Or you may consider someone a gossip and busybody while another friend sees their comments as helpful and insightful.

After Katie Cole’s arrest for murder, five men who knew her give their perspectives of the young woman.  Interestingly and tellingly, each has a different nickname for the young woman, perhaps showing the reader how they view her.

Katie is working at March House, a members-only club in Mayfair.  Its owner, Lucien Wrightman, hosts parties there for some of the most influential men in London; women are not allowed on its sacred premises.  One evening Wrightman and three of his guests are murdered during a small gathering he’s hosting; Katie is the only waitress.

Tarun, who reluctantly becomes her barrister when she’s tried for murder, calls her Katherine.  That’s not surprising, as he didn’t know her before he was hired.  When a CCTV camera captures her leaving the club, then attempting to leave London at the Paddington station, she tells the arresting officers, “They deserved it.”  It’s no wonder that Tarun feels “only dread” about representing her.

John is her father, and he calls her “Kit-Kat,” and he believes with all his heart that she’s innocent of the murder charges.  Her mother, however, is not so sure.

Max, one of the journalists covering the sensational story, refers to her as “Killer Kate” in his own mind.  The story of the deaths of four prominent men is tailor-made to keep his articles on the front page.  Wrightman was “richer than God” and the owner of the March House; Dominic Ainsworth was an inept politician who somehow managed to be named to a prominent role at the Exchequer; Aleksandr Popov was a Russian billionaire with many, many suspect interests; and Harris Lowe was heir to a diamond fortune and a real estate magnate.

Gabriel was her classmate and calls her “K. C.”  He is shy, somewhat nerdy, not very popular, and when K. C. takes an interest in him and introduces him to an internet website called the Rabbit Hole, it changes the way he sees the world.

Conrad calls her “Wildcat” and views her as “a bomb going off in my life.”  Despite being engaged, he spends the night with her and starts living two lives, one with his fiancée and one with Wildcat.  He is wracked with guilt, wrecking his life, but he’s unable to stop.

We hear from “Katie,” as she calls herself, only in the novel’s first chapter and in the last.  Thus it’s up to the reader to decide which of the men comes closest to understanding her and what the last words of the book, which are a repeat of her damning words at the trial, really mean.

Nicci Cloke has written a fascinating mystery in which all the characters are beautifully and clearly written so that the reader is able to understand their motivations and relationships to Katie.  Each man views Katie through his own lens, and that lens, of course, depends on his own life and his relationship with her.

You can learn more about the author on various sites on the web.