When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she's not only North Carolina's richest woman, she's also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family's estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.
But to everyone's surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.
Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle's death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.
Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam's estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.
But Ruby's plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what's written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.
Title : The Heiress
Author : Rachel Hawkins
Format : eARC
Page Count : 304
Genre : mystery
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Release Date : January 9, 2024
Reviewer : Hollis
Rating : ★ ★ ★
Hollis' 3 star review
The Heiress, on the outset, was feeling a little disappointingly straight-forward in the initial half of the story but in the end it ultimately did more than I expected it to. And thank goodness for that. I love when you feel genuinely surprised by reveals as opposed to seeing a big twist coming; because as much fun as the latter can be, a subtle shift can be exciting, too. And that's what this one was.
Most of this is very Knives Out-y in the sense of a family of horrids are fighting over (duh) inheritance and the person perceived to be the interloper who received said inheritance but there's a ton of backstory, infamy, mystery, and more, along with it all.
I don't really have much more to say about this one. I enjoyed the distraction of it, seeing where we ended up, and it was the perfect quick palate cleanser to sneak int between fantastical and complex epics. While none of Hawkins' adult releases have been huge successes for me, they've all been entertaining in their own way and this is no exception. And thus I shall continue to pick them up.
** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
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