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Hannah Ives Mystery #2
Unbreathed Memories
Hannah Ives has every reason to mind her own business. Having survived a recent bout with breast cancer, she's opting for reconstructive surgery and a fresh start. Her Annapolis home is decorated for better feng shui. Her parents are living close by. And her sister, Georgiana, is finally getting help for recurring depression. Everything is coming up roses-until her sister's therapist takes a nosedive off a balcony. Now with Georgiana a prime suspect in the murder, Hannah needs to do some analysis of her own. A few pages torn from an appointment book may hold a crucial clue. And some bizarre memories from her sister's past may point to a motive...if Hannah can keep a clear head and dare to enter the darkness of a killer's twisted mind...
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Marcia Talley
80 books56 followersMarcia Talley is the Agatha and Anthony award-winning author of DEAD MAN DANCING and six previous mysteries featuring amateur sleuth, Hannah Ives who, like the author, is a breast cancer survivor.
Marcia is author/editor of two star-studded collaborative novels, NAKED CAME THE PHOENIX and ID KILL FOR THAT set in a fashionable health spa and an exclusive gated community, respectively. Her short stories appear in more than a dozen collections including With Love, Marjorie Ann and Safety First, both Agatha award nominees, and the multi-award-winning Too Many Cooks, a humorous retelling of Shakespeares Macbeth from the viewpoint of the three witches. A recent story, Driven to Distraction won the Agatha Award, was nominated for an Anthony, and was reprinted in THE DANGEROUS BRIDE AND 21 OF THE YEARS FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES.
Marcia is immediate past president of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, serves as Secretary for Sisters in Crime National, and is on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. She divides her time between Annapolis, Maryland and an antique sailboat in the Bahamas.
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Marcia is author/editor of two star-studded collaborative novels, NAKED CAME THE PHOENIX and ID KILL FOR THAT set in a fashionable health spa and an exclusive gated community, respectively. Her short stories appear in more than a dozen collections including With Love, Marjorie Ann and Safety First, both Agatha award nominees, and the multi-award-winning Too Many Cooks, a humorous retelling of Shakespeares Macbeth from the viewpoint of the three witches. A recent story, Driven to Distraction won the Agatha Award, was nominated for an Anthony, and was reprinted in THE DANGEROUS BRIDE AND 21 OF THE YEARS FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES.
Marcia is immediate past president of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, serves as Secretary for Sisters in Crime National, and is on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. She divides her time between Annapolis, Maryland and an antique sailboat in the Bahamas.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 28, 2018
well i actually started it but then stopped it cause it was so slow and i kind of skimmed through it but then had a light bulb moment when my son said mom you cant skim read things so i started it again and finished it and it did get better and it was a really good read with a very sad ending so on the the next Hannah Ives mystery
February 10, 2019
Good mystery
The story deals w/ some difficult issues that were popular in some psychotherapy circles in the late ‘80’s and ‘90’s. Talley struck a believable balance. Since the story greatly affected Hannah and her sisters, it turned out to be a powerful book.
The story deals w/ some difficult issues that were popular in some psychotherapy circles in the late ‘80’s and ‘90’s. Talley struck a believable balance. Since the story greatly affected Hannah and her sisters, it turned out to be a powerful book.
April 3, 2021
This is a very good mystery.I liked Hannah much better in this one than in the first book. She faces harsh allegations against her father by her younger sister who is undergoing therapy. But when the therapist ends up murdered, what is true and we’re false memories planted in Georgina’s mind while undergoing therapy? Hannah digs deep to get to the truth.
November 16, 2021
SPOILER ALERT
Hannah Ives family will come to brink of disaster in this second of the series. Hannah gets a call from her youngest sister, who has been asking strange questions about her childhood, refusing to call their mother, who is hysterical. She wants Hannah to pick her up at her therapists in Baltimore.
When Hannah gets to her office, she finds Georgina's therapist, Diane Sturges, dead at the bottom of her balcony. Hannah wants to call the police immediately but Georgina runs, and they call from a booth. Georgina has also torn out the pages of her datebook, and gives them to Hannah. But the police are at Scott and Georgina Carfinale's house in the morning having found an online schedule. Georgina lies, Scott lies about not knowing she was dead. Hannah tells them the truth. Then the bomb. Georgina tells them: the police and her family that her father molested her as a child. She had told the therapist, who it will turn out to have convinced many of clients that have been sexually abused as a child, and they had compelled her father to come to a session where he is confronted.
Hannah is facing reconstructive surgery for her mastectomy soon, her older sister Ruth, a woo-woo store owner and off to Bali for a month, and the chaos created by Georgina's accusation. Hannah decides to investigate. She looks into the lives of the members of the group therapy led by Sturges at All Hallows Episcopal Church: Joy Emerson, Toni, Claudia, Suzanne, Mindy, JoAnne, Gwen, and Stephanie Golden. She tries to follow the lives of the patients who were on the schedule. She enlists the help of her husband Paul, a teacher at the Naval Academy. Some of what Georgina has said cannot be accurate because she was not young enough when the Cabbage Patch dolls were created, and that is a memory Georgina has. Paul goes to Library of Congress to look up the past of Sturges father, Dr. Mark Voorhis, a pediatrician who has referred many patients to his daughter. They find an article about his former job in IL, and the suicide of his wife. Getting Paul's sister, Connie's boyfriend's help, a policeman, they get a copy of the suicide note. It reveals that Diane had been molested by her father. One of the group pulled out when she realized she had not been molested despite Sturges insistence. Recalling an odd reaction to something she had said at a session, Hannah realizes that Dr. Voorhis has a motive for murder.
She gets her reconstructive surgery and takes a few weeks in recovery, getting help from Paul in the research.
She sets a trap at the church. Ready to record his confession, the Dr. shows up early and gets Hannah alone. Hoping Connie and Lionel Streeting, the Senior Warden are listening, Voorhis confesses that Diane had fallen accidently. She was screaming at him, having remembers the abuse. The doctor is one sick puppy. He saw it as love, and that Diane had seduced him as early as age three. He tries to strangle Diane, and Connie knocks him out. He is arrested, and that removes the accusation of murder from her father. When Hannah points out the evidence she has found regarding manipulated therapy, she convinces Georgina and Scott that she was not molested by their father.
They are then summoned to the hospital where their mother has suffered another heart attack. Heer enlarged heart is giving out. Georgina and Scott get there in time to seek forgiveness from Lois, who then dies. Very dramatic.
Hannah Ives family will come to brink of disaster in this second of the series. Hannah gets a call from her youngest sister, who has been asking strange questions about her childhood, refusing to call their mother, who is hysterical. She wants Hannah to pick her up at her therapists in Baltimore.
When Hannah gets to her office, she finds Georgina's therapist, Diane Sturges, dead at the bottom of her balcony. Hannah wants to call the police immediately but Georgina runs, and they call from a booth. Georgina has also torn out the pages of her datebook, and gives them to Hannah. But the police are at Scott and Georgina Carfinale's house in the morning having found an online schedule. Georgina lies, Scott lies about not knowing she was dead. Hannah tells them the truth. Then the bomb. Georgina tells them: the police and her family that her father molested her as a child. She had told the therapist, who it will turn out to have convinced many of clients that have been sexually abused as a child, and they had compelled her father to come to a session where he is confronted.
Hannah is facing reconstructive surgery for her mastectomy soon, her older sister Ruth, a woo-woo store owner and off to Bali for a month, and the chaos created by Georgina's accusation. Hannah decides to investigate. She looks into the lives of the members of the group therapy led by Sturges at All Hallows Episcopal Church: Joy Emerson, Toni, Claudia, Suzanne, Mindy, JoAnne, Gwen, and Stephanie Golden. She tries to follow the lives of the patients who were on the schedule. She enlists the help of her husband Paul, a teacher at the Naval Academy. Some of what Georgina has said cannot be accurate because she was not young enough when the Cabbage Patch dolls were created, and that is a memory Georgina has. Paul goes to Library of Congress to look up the past of Sturges father, Dr. Mark Voorhis, a pediatrician who has referred many patients to his daughter. They find an article about his former job in IL, and the suicide of his wife. Getting Paul's sister, Connie's boyfriend's help, a policeman, they get a copy of the suicide note. It reveals that Diane had been molested by her father. One of the group pulled out when she realized she had not been molested despite Sturges insistence. Recalling an odd reaction to something she had said at a session, Hannah realizes that Dr. Voorhis has a motive for murder.
She gets her reconstructive surgery and takes a few weeks in recovery, getting help from Paul in the research.
She sets a trap at the church. Ready to record his confession, the Dr. shows up early and gets Hannah alone. Hoping Connie and Lionel Streeting, the Senior Warden are listening, Voorhis confesses that Diane had fallen accidently. She was screaming at him, having remembers the abuse. The doctor is one sick puppy. He saw it as love, and that Diane had seduced him as early as age three. He tries to strangle Diane, and Connie knocks him out. He is arrested, and that removes the accusation of murder from her father. When Hannah points out the evidence she has found regarding manipulated therapy, she convinces Georgina and Scott that she was not molested by their father.
They are then summoned to the hospital where their mother has suffered another heart attack. Heer enlarged heart is giving out. Georgina and Scott get there in time to seek forgiveness from Lois, who then dies. Very dramatic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2022
Devoured this mystery too. Marcia Talley does an excellent job of dealing with a very delicate subject without generalizing. She represents the victimized family side well without diminishing the pain of all parties.
April 3, 2016
The details around planted memories were particularly fascinating to observe as a support group develops a hysteria worthy of the Salem witch trials, one that accuses childhood family and friends of sexual abuse. And once that group reaches a frenzy, their leader is suddenly murdered. Who is telling the truth when they aren't even sure themselves?
May 19, 2016
Another easy read by Talley. Not much challenge here but enjoyable. I maintain my perspective that it's almost a grown-up's Nancy Drew. Dated a bit because the series is long, but I didn't mind the flashback.
April 7, 2015
Good local mystery writer and another series to follow. Hannah Ives!
August 17, 2015
Quick easy reads. For when you just want an interesting mystery.
May 15, 2012
I'm done with these books, I think. Except for Hannah, the characters aren't developed at all.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews