The Spinster’s Fortune
In August 1929, Margaret Magruder is contacted by a legal firm asserting she is next-of-kin to her estranged aunt, Blanche, her father’s last surviving spinster sister. Blanche has been transferred to a rather unsavoury old age facility and is claiming to be her own sister, Emily. The dilapidated Georgetown family home has been broken into and a few things stolen. Rumours abound that there is treasure in the house, old family money amounting to $40k ($600k today). Using a sixth sense about the aunt she barely knows, Margaret gradually uncovers bills secreted between the pages of books, stuffed into the horsehair seats of ancient couches, and in old cans. She moves Blanche to a facility run by a caring Frenchwoman and slowly, between escaping several times and heading back home, the sometimes lucid, sometimes not-so Blanche lets her sad history out.
Despite the makings of a potentially interesting mystery, it didn’t always feel as though the author knew where she was going with her tale. Characters are quite flat and uninteresting, and several things are unclear. Blanche claiming she’s Emily just muddies the waters. How does Margaret fortuitously figure out where the money is, when those hired to search the house can’t? Why does Blanche use a window rather than the door? Who did Blanche hide the money from or for? What’s the purpose behind Margaret spraining her ankle? This is just one of a few superfluous events that lend nothing to the narrative. And I found the contemporary tunnel adventures stretched credulity, given Blanche’s advanced age.
This may appeal to readers who enjoy an unusual mystery, but I was not an engaged as I would like to have been. The author’s note indicates there was conflicting information in the historical accounts on which this novel is based, and therein may lie the rub.
