The Unconnected Twins

153. April’s Grave – Susan Howatch

Usually in novels and movies, twins know when something has happened to the other one. There’s like a psychic connection represented. But here, that doesn’t happen. So Karen doesn’t realize that her twin sister April must be dead until three years later when she returns to everything she was doing in her life then, like Neville who did have an affair with April, in Scotland at the croft she and Neville broke up at because he was having said affair with April.

Karen and April are from the USA and so is their brother Thomas, which leads to judgements from Neville’s sister Leonie, who has had to keep house for him like the whole time and take care of his kid, who they call Snuff, and be a general drudge. Leonie also has a crush on Neville’s tree business partner Marney. I’d say she’s bearing a torch, but, that would burn things like trees. Anyway, Neville is too busy having affairs and being a man about town as a lecturer in botany to be bothered with keeping his own house. He’s the kind of guy who totally owns all those party records they made in the 1960s and keeps them next to a well stocked bar at every house he owns, London or Scotland, at all times. Even though he has a kid.

He even has had an affair that seems kind of manipulated with Karen’s best friend in London, Melissa. So, when Karen wants to come back and see Snuff and probably get back into it with Neville, Melissa is sure to let Karen know that she can stay with her and oh, by the way, she’s been the one in Neville’s life, but they’re totally breaking up. Melissa does not want to break up and she wants to hurt Karen for getting what she can’t. Even though Karen’s own sister has already been there.

Anyway, it’s a tangled web of not realizing things and the best characters are Thomas, who is kind of disliked but very forthright (American), and Snuff, who is young enough to not be involved. Karen seems to be overwhelmed by running back to the life she left and I don’t know why she thinks Neville is suddenly going to be a good dude to be married to – oh, right, they never got divorced – when she also thinks he might have murdered her twin sister. If they could only find that body.

After a lot of discussion about not calling the police because of how it would be bad for several of them to appear like a murderer, the police are called and guess who finds April’s Grave? They do because they’re not stuck having all kinds of dramatic discussions about it.

 

Snuffy, who occasionally goes by Snuffs or Snuffkin or her real first name (rarely) which isn’t Snuff, and Wisting are not looking for a body on the couch, but they’re also not not looking for a body on the couch.