Before the Poison

Summary (from the publisher): Through years of success in Hollywood composing music for Oscar-winning films, Chris Lowndes always imagined he would come full circle, home to Yorkshire with his beloved wife Laura. 

Now he's back in the Yorkshire Dales, but Laura is dead, and Chris needs to make a new life for himself. The isolated house he buys sight unseen should give him the space to come to terms with his grief and the quiet to allow him to work. 

Kilnsgate House turns out to be rather more than he expected, however. A man died there, sixty years ago. His wife was convicted of murder. And something is pulling Chris deeper and deeper into the story of Grace Elizabeth Fox, who was hanged by the neck until she was dead . . .

Review: I won this novel as a giveaway on Goodreads. This novel is about film composer Chris Lowndes, who decides to return home to Yorkshire after retiring from Hollywood. Chris buys a house, sight unseen, and moves in. It isn't until after he moves in that he learns that the former owner, Dr. Fox, died in the house in the 1950s, supposedly poisoned by his much younger wife Grace. Grace, a beautiful woman and a former army nurse, was hanged for her alleged crime. Chris becomes obsessed with finding out more about Grace and tracks down her lover and others who may shed some light on whether or not she really killed her husband, and why.

I was initially disturbed by the image of this older man moving into an isolated house by himself, where a murder likely occured. This was intensified by the fact that the house was not only furnished, it was completely decorated and filled with everyday objects, almost as if Grace had just left. Pictures still hung on the wall and the same sheets covered the beds. It was as if Chris was intruding into Grace's life.

The novel reeled me in with promises of mystery and suspense, and possibly even supernatural occurrences, but then failed to deliver. Very early in the novel, Chris believes he sees Grace in a mirror, but nothing more ever occurs along that vein. Additionally, I felt like Robinson spent nearly 400 pages to sum up Grace's story, which could have easily been told in 5 minutes. Little actually happens in Chris' investigation for the majority of his unofficial investigation but his narrative is instead filled with tales of him taking walks, drinking wine, and watching movies. Rather dull. In short, I wanted more action and more suspense.

I did, however, appreciate the structure of this novel. Each chapter begins with either a portion of the trial narrative or of Grace's journal from her years as a nurse in the army. It added substance to the novel and provided other viewpoints rather than just that of Chris. 

In sum, this novel was decent but failed to live up to its full potential. 

Stars: 3