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Reviewed by Keith Mbuya for Readers' Favorite
At forty-eight, Melissa McNulty Fairmont lives paycheck to paycheck, working a day job in Los Angeles. As a fine artist, she also sells commissioned paintings on the side and dreams of becoming a full-time artist. Her mother and two sisters, with whom she has had a strained relationship since childhood, see her as a failure because they are wealthy. When she receives a call from New Orleans, her hometown, informing her of her mother’s sudden demise, Melissa apprehensively heads to New Orleans for the funeral arrangements with her husband in tow. However, as Melissa’s mother is buried and the will is read, sparks begin to fly among the siblings. Soon, Melissa and her husband find themselves entangled in a web of mystery involving the murder of a close relative and an oil painting whose history traces back to World War II and is tied to a family scandal. The more the couple tries to solve it, the more shocking discoveries they make. Find out how it all goes down in Inherited Death by Jeanne Rietzke.
If you are looking for a mystery murder novel flavored with drama, history, suspense, and plot twists, Inherited Death by Jeanne Rietzke is an enthralling pick. Rietzke plunges readers into Melissa’s tumultuous world with intimate prose and vivid imagery, from Melissa’s family’s house in the Irish Channel to the events in the household during her childhood, the hotels in New Orleans, and the farm in Plaquemines Parish, among other settings. Rietzke packs the narrative with dramatic flair and revelations, making every turn of the page intriguing and entertaining. The steady narration gave me insight into the cast’s personal struggles and made it easy to follow the storyline’s development. As I watched the toxic dynamic between Melissa and her family play out in the present and past, I understood her love-and-hate relationship with them. Many will relate to her because her experiences reflect the real world. She demonstrates how sibling rivalry and parental bias affect one mentally and emotionally. The story also enlightened me about how artists protected their art during World War II.
