The Bridesmaid

 The Bridesmaid

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       January 16, 2025

 

Author  Cate Quinn

Distributor:      Amazon UK
ISBN:                 978-1398720503
Publisher:         Orion
Release Date:   January 2025 - pre order available.  

   Website:   https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bridesmaid-Cate-Quinn/dp/1398720526/r

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Adrianna Kensington, heiress to the multi-million dollar Kensington nightclub empire is about to be married. Everything has been meticulously planned. Media releases, photoshoots and the guest list have undergone rigorous planning, even the selection of the five bridesmaids, their couture garments and usefulness to the Kensington family have been selected by her father Leopold.

Holly Stone is a freelance forensic scientist who works for Liberation Law. She receives an invitation to the Wedding, hand delivered, but as she discovers it comes with a bit more than a catch. One of the bridesmaids has been murdered in a most horrific manner and the Kensington’s do not trust the Police to deal with the situation quickly.

Mark Li, the Groom, contacts Holly, who reluctantly agrees to come to the New York Plaza to investigate the scene of the Murder; when she learns who has been murdered she is determined that justice will be done.

Before she knows it she is the replacement bridesmaid, is fitted out for the event and is on her way to Elysium Island; the Fantasy Island owned by the Kensington’s. As the hours count down to the day of the wedding, secrets are slowly being revealed and nothing is as it appears; it is getting harder to separate fact from carefully cultivated fiction.

The story unfolds chapter by chapter with Adrianna and Holly telling the story as they go. Adriana has been developed well as a character, spoilt, traumatised and determined to have a perfect wedding at all costs. Holly is the antithesis of the usual hero; she is a Goth, dresses from the Goodwill Shop and has blue hair and tattoos. She is also determined and immensely intelligent.

Cate Quinn carefully winds up the suspense to reach a cliff-hanging conclusion, with her delightfully abstract ‘Goth’ Holly Stone and the very dapper New York Defective Fitzwilliam, who in spite of their past issues, find they must work closely together to find a ruthless killer.

The Bridesmaid is a gripping holiday read for those who enjoy a very different Murder Mystery filled with well-kept secrets!

Crime, Fiction, Mystery