Strange Children

by Kate Charles

Friendless and virtually an orphan, Tessa craves a husband and a baby; above all, she wants to be loved. When her on-and-off lover Ian leaves her for the last time, Tessa embarks on a whirlwind romance with Rob Nicholls, and at last her dreams seem set to come true. Now married to the perfect man, and with a baby on the way, Tessa looks forward to getting to know her new mother-in-law. But before that can happen, Linda Nicholls is murdered and Tessa desperately needs to know why. Her quest for answers plunges her into a world of secrets, where nothing is as it seems, and her own life and the life of her unborn child are in mortal danger. A chilling tale of murder, blackmail, and perversion.

Genres: Mystery

404 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Roselyn]

Strange revelation, slow to read.

[Renata]

Strange children, indeed! Tessa and Rob meet at the wedding of their former lovers who have jilted them. The wedding couple placed them at a table together at the reception as a joke. Tessa and Rob fall in love quickly and get married. Shortly after getting married, Tessa becomes pregnant and Rob is less than pleased with the situation. Tessa wants to meet Rob's mother who she has not yet met) as she is concerned that Rob's mother, Linda, will be the child's only grandmother as her own mother is deceased. A meeting is arranged and when Tessa and Rob show up at Linda's home, she is found dead.

This is a whodunit with some very bizarre twists. Rob is reluctant to explain what his mother did for a living. Tessa assumes that she was a prostitute or ran a brothel but the truth is even more unusual. This aspect makes the book somewhat difficult to read (at least I found it so).

I bought this book in 1999 shortly after its publication. Parts of it read like a British "cozy" but parts of the story were weird to say the least. The killer becomes very obvious early on due to their obnoxious and abusive behavior. Lots of threads to this story which added to its interest, but "bizarre" is the best word to describe the plot.

[Lori S.]

I really enjoyed this although it took a while to become fully engaged in the story. I particularly liked the writer's study of Tessa's character.