Children of the Plantation (Mystery Suspense Drama) (#2 Diana Rivers) [Kindle Edition]

Faith has written another good novel with her sleuth character 'Diana'. - Faith is gently developing Diana's character and I found the storyline to be interesting and to be well balanced with a twist at the end. I enjoyed the old colonial feel of Malaya to the storyline. I highly recommend this book!

I chose this book to read because of my relationship with Malaya which started with military service in the early 1950's and lapsed until I started to work in KL in 1991. The story covers this period and brought back many long forgotten memories.

Faith Mortimer is a gifted writer who not only paints wonderfully descriptive word pictures of the characters and the surrounding environment but blends them into an intriguing story. I particularly liked the way we could relate our own experiences of sibling rivalry and mysterious aunts with those of the characters who we learned to know so well. The story unfolds as Diana Rivers reads through the diaries of Miss Chalcot's mother Eleanor and we are left to wonder what is coming next. Like many readers I like to guess the next paragraph and try to jump ahead of the author. With this book I managed to outguess the author for only part of the way and the ending came as a complete surprise. Throughout the story I kept wondering about the real identity of Miss Chalcot and as I completed the reading I thought that she remained a complete mystery. However about ½hr later the answer came into my head and I realised that the clues were there throughout the story if only I had seen them.

This is a good book written to a very high standard without any bad language and everyone who likes mysteries would enjoy it. As for the wonderful descriptions, I had forgotten the vivid colours and the many exotic fruits so readily available in Malaysia, not only the mangosteen (the king of fruits) and rambutan mentioned in the book. When we were being introduced to the hotel, Kebun Pertama, and it's surroundings I swear that I could smell the atmosphere. Anyone who has visited the area would be able to recognise the distinctive aroma that pervades KL and it's surroundings. One thing that I would have liked the author to expand more upon is the humid heat. I have been unable to describe to my wife that wonderful feeling of becoming embraced by the comfort of the humidity and heat that one can get before breakfast in the morning and in late afternoon. Sitting in the shade beside the pool reading a good book and drinking fruit juice wearing the atmosphere is real bliss, the author only hinted at it which was a pity.

Overall full marks for a well written and an intriguing believable story.

Faith Helen Mortimer is a relatively new author to me I read The Assassins Village first which introduces the character, Diana Rivers. before the The Children of the Plantation. I feel that not only the storyline is well written and gripping but the excellent descriptions of the location of the book (in this case Malaysia) greatly added to my enjoyment.I am looking forward to reading more from this talented author and would recommend her to others.