You Let Me In

Cassandra Tipp is a seventy-four-year-old writer of romance novels when she disappears. She has not lived an ordinary life —a traumatic childhood was followed by accusations of murder when her husband died and more trauma when she lost her brother and father to murder and suicide. After years of success as a writer, she leaves behind quite an estate with rather odd instructions. If she doesn’t turn up in a year, her niece or nephew or both can claim her estate. They must go to her study in her house and read a manuscript left there for them to find a secret password that they must give to her attorney to complete their claim. The manuscript is a long letter to her niece and nephew, and it’s hard to know if she was completely crazy or really had such a traumatic life. It’s complicated.

Author Camilla Bruce is clearly an accomplished writer, and she weaves quite a tale. It is not a typical mystery as it includes some serious (and very creepy) elements of fantasy. Readers who enjoy being frightened half out of their wits and thrive on tension will love this one.