The Heiress

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: THERE'S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD.

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten show more years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.

And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: This book should have a subtitle: "Schadenfreude Unbound" feels about right. Soapy, sudsy storytelling that plunges nasty, unkind, entitled rich idiots into a decades-long feud à la Succession, fighting over money, fighting dirty, being hateful to each other and everyone around them...the poor bastard who actually inherits the family estate and fortune had my complete sympathy for running away. I'd've done the same.

My introduction to Author Hawkins was her largely unloved-by-fans (most I know gave it about three stars to my four) novel THE VILLA (which review is linked). I liked it fine. Like this book, it was escapist suds with a mote of social commentary. This was handled in a way that it could be text or subtext, depending on the reader, and the mood.

The family-secrets trope is evergreen. I can always get behind a good story of how awful families are to each other! The more money is involved...and there is an ocean of money in this one...the more awful behavior there is. Cam, our heir-apparent, is the victim of bullying by his cousin-of-sorts Ben as they are growing up...and yet it is Ben who contacts Cam when the disrepair of Ashby House (modeled on Biltmore, the Vanderbilt mansion outside Asheville, North Carolina) becomes too much for the Southern-Gothic, heavily derivative "family" he's left in possession of it to handle on their own resources...they are far too Refined to earn their own money, do you not see? As he's the heir to all the money, and the property, but won't take them into his possession, no one can do anything without his say-so and he won't say so.

I got a frisson when I thought about how much that email must've hurt babbitty, bullying Ben.

Cam and his wife Jules, who tell the story in alternating chapters, are to all appearances a happy-enough suburban couple. They set out to assess the situation in person. The trip is from Colorado; not a minor jaunt. They arrive, and while Jules had until now had no real idea of the scope of Cam's background's wealth (a thing that set my BS filter into fine-mesh mode...no particles allowed through), she has a crash course now. Her impoverished childhood, and the sheer opulence of Cam's adoptive family's digs, sets off a major lust in Jules to stop being a hardscrabble never-was and settle in to being utterly secure.

Financially, anyway.

The adoption of a nobody by the heiress whose fortune is being fought over is unsurprisingly very unpopular with her family. The third PoV in the novel is letters sent by the dead Ruby to an unknown recipient that go a long way to explain her thinking...there are good reasons for it...and the book uses them effectively as spikes to hang the twists and turns of the plot onto. I do not particularly think that the ending was a natural outgrowth of the set-up. I was not convinced that Jules and Cam were happily married at the beginning, given the amount of uncommunicated stuff in their relationship. That this money exists and is legally her husband's money is bound to give her some Feelings. That his wife is seduced by the trappings of wealth that he saw through and rejected is bound to give Cam some Feelings. They were not ignored, these factors, but they got less oomph than I thought was their due.

I can only get up to three and a half stars because these factors kept me from getting to the ending with the author. A very entertaining book, a good commentary on the fragility of relationships, a brutal take-down of the superrich and their appalling sense of entitlement...all yes, and all positives. The ending being of a piece with the set-up...well, not for this reader.

Go into it with a heart full of malice for rich people, and enjoy the hell out of it on that level. show less

In her previous thrillers, Rachel Hawkins tempted us with mysteries on a remote Pacific island, an Italian villa, in suburban Alabama. In THE HEIRESS, she entices us with a gothic mystery set in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I can't think of a more perfect location for her story either. No matter how stunning they are, there is something ominous about mountain living. Once you add generational wealth, an estate everyone wants, and a family history of secrets tied together with Ms. Hawkins' sharp wit, THE HEIRESS is the perfect story to start the new year.

Both Jules and Camden tell THE HEIRESS. As is often the case in such situations, we only learn what they deign to share. Interspersed between their points of view are letters written by show more Ruby to Cam that share the stories behind her four husbands. From these three points of view, we get a good picture of the McTavish family.

Disfunction, thy name is McTavish. There is nothing lovable about any of the family members. By the time Cam and Jules arrive at Ashby House, we know to expect some level of friction, but nothing prepares you for the vitriol Cam faces from his family. Plus, every person in that house has an agenda, a fact that heightens the tension.

As she does, in THE HEIRESS, Ms. Hawkins creates another tight thriller in which the mystery is compelling, as are the characters. What struck me the most about THE HEIRESS isn't about Cam and Jules' story, though. Instead, my main takeaway from the novel is a suspicion that the McTavish family might be fictional, but their attitudes and greed are not. For some reason, I can easily see families with intergenerational wealth acting just as greedy, oblivious, and power-hungry as the McTavish family. Perhaps it is the family of the previous President and their dysfunction that makes THE HEIRESS so plausible in that regard. Either way, it's an impressive writing in which the heartless family feels more real than any other part of the story.

This will be four years in a row when Ms. Hawkins releases a thriller in January. They make for a great New Year book. Her characters are lively, the stories are entertaining, and the thriller is always fantastic. THE HEIRESS is no different. With the atmospheric Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop, THE HEIRESS is a tense roller coaster of a book that suspense and thriller lovers will appreciate. show less

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins is my first read of the year and what a way to get things started because, wow, this is one twisty, suspenseful, impossible to put down, gothic tale of family secrets, greed, deception, and murder and just wildly entertaining.

The story is told through several different means including newspaper articles, a journal by Ruby, a four time widow, who, although dead, is really the main character, Cam, her adopted son, and Cam’s wife, Jules. The story begins as Cam has received a call from his family in N Carolina informing him his uncle has died and his presence is requested. Cam had left N Carolina and, despite having inherited Ruby’s fortune and Ashby House, the family estate, had left years before and has show more no desire to return. However, Jules wants to see the house and meet his family so he reluctantly agrees.

It becomes very evident very fast that, to the family, all of whom still live in Ashby House and depend on Cam’s money, he is and will always be the outsider, the cuckoo in the nest, who has stolen what is rightfully theirs. Cam wants to give them everything and just leave but Jules is determined they stay and fight. The question is how far will the family go to win and, in the end, what are Cam and Jules willing to pay to stop them.

Okay, I gotta say I’m a huge fan of Hawkins’ books. You can always count on a riveting no-holds- barred tale and The Heiress is no exception. There is a sense of foreboding throughout and it becomes fairly clear that there are no innocents among the characters who all have secrets, some are revealed fairly early, some I guessed fairly easily, and some, well, I have to admit I did not see coming. A definite great start to the year and one that no doubt will be on my list of favourites throughout.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less

Rachel Hawkins has penned a brilliant Southern Gothic mystery. I just finished THE HEIRESS, and my mind is still spinning. It has some ominous REBECCA vibes that I absolutely love.

Dark secrets and scandals abound within the walls of Ashby House, the Appalachian estate of the McTavish family. Old money made the sole heir, Ruby McTavish, the wealthiest woman in North Carolina. Being kidnapped as a child and leaving behind four deceased husbands made her infamous as well. When she dies, all of her wealth goes to her adopted son, Camden, but he wants nothing to do with that toxic family’s money or drama. But Ashby House and the secrets within will not let go of him so easily.

THE HEIRESS was an expertly plotted book told from the POVs of show more Camden, his wife Jules, and Ruby, though Ruby’s voice is through her letters only, as she spills the juicy details of her life. There are some delicious, jaw-dropping moments in this book that made me pause! I greatly enjoyed this mesmerizing tale of murder, money, and greed. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book. Opinions are my own. show less

Aaaaammmmmaaazzzing. What a well connived, treacherously twisted, supremely demented multiple mystery. There were so many ways this could have gone and each time I saw a breadcrumb I travelled down that road until it branched, stopped, segued. You always have to be suspicious when you read the words “ I will tell him / her, I will, just not yet.” And there was a whole lot of that going on, like cotton candy being spun and pieces pulled off and tasted and spun some more.

Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the McTavish family is royalty on a hill and like many Royal families it is comprised of those who take charge, those who throw it away, those who believe they are entitled, philanthropists, dilettantes, some mean, show more some lost, some who need to be apart from it all. The chapters explore each and the character studies are really easy to admire and dislike in equal measure. The truly outstanding feature is that everyone has a secret or two and it is a chessboard of moves, counter moves trying to figure out who knows what and has the proof to use it. Once again it is about money, gobs and gobs of money and with that comes progeny, inheritance and when the matriarch who controls it all dies, there is a tangled mess that is going to draw the players together one last time. Look out, things are going to get confusing, interesting, convoluted with a few other similar issues.

I am so glad Hawkins gave Ruby a voice and some of the best one liners e.g. “A side note - one rarely finds salvation in Florida.” We get to hear her story from her and it is a heck of a tale. It sets the dynamic for what is to come. Remember, “The truth isn’t some finite thing, it’s what we all choose to believe.”

Loved it all. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy. show less

This is a book that I literally devoured in two sittings. Told with a keen eye for detail and in a writing style that will transport you, Hawkins' The Heiress is a book that will make you rethink your next family gathering and cause you to keep a keen eye on you family...because this book shows that you never really know the whole story of what motivates the people around you. I loved the way the storylines converged and showed different aspects of the moments as a reader I thought I knew.

One sentence review: This is story of twists and turns that has the best gothic feel that would make Willie Collins proud...if dysfunctional families, backstabbing and conveying relatives, and plot twists around every corner make your fingers itch to show more open a cover, this is a book you don't want to miss. show less

Rachel Hawkins weaves her compelling tale from the vocal strands of matriarch Ruby McTavish, her adopted son Camden, and Camden's wife Jules. It doesn't take long after readers arrive at Ashby House to realize that they've fallen into a den of vipers... and that everyone's motives should be suspect.

The Heiress reminds me of one of my favorite mystery tropes: is this person the true heir? DNA tests have killed that favorite of mine, but it still lives on in books like Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar and to a tiny degree, here. After all, the McTavishes who've stayed at Ashby House would like nothing better than to take every penny of Camden's inheritance away from him, and they're not too picky about how they do it.

One of the highlights show more of the book is the letters Ruby wrote to Camden. Her words prove her to be strong, sympathetic, and devious. Those letters, combined with occasional newspaper articles, are the backbone of The Heiress, and they define a fascinating character.

To one remote, beautiful mansion, add a hornet's nest of characters, and some delicious plot twists. What do you get? A wonderful story that you can't read fast enough. After enjoying The Heiress so much, I know that I'll be reading more from Rachel Hawkins. show less