Buffalo Wagons

Publishers Weekly

...should find eager readers...

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Set in present-day London and Provence, this suspense novel by the popular author of The Neighbors is part juicy family melodrama, part stirring suspense story. On the eve of her 80th birthday, reclusive Annesley family matriarch Odile writes to each member of the Annesley clan from her sprawling farmhouse in Provence, communicating details of her will. In response, Odile's five granddaughters plan to travel in convoy to the French homestead for a surprise visit to their estranged grandmother. The trip is deferred until the midpoint of the novel, as the granddaughters are reacquainted with each other. Clemency, the eldest, is comfortably married with four children and lives outside London; Elodie is a single and raunchy dress designer living in Paris. Madeleine, residing alone in London, is a Norwegian "ice queen"; Isabelle, at the other end of the spectrum, is a plumpish student at Oxford. Finally, Cherie is a single mother, poor and resentful of the Annesley entitlement, from which she feels excluded. This motley crew arrives in Provence to find the farmhouse quite desolate and the garden disturbed by a freshly dug grave. The terror heightens as two more Annesleys are murdered and the group uncovers bloody secrets buried in the family's past. Though the novel's denouement fails to convince, its plotting is otherwise solid, its characters rounded and its pacing sprightly. As with Smith's previous romantic suspense novels, it should find eager readers. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In her fourth novel, Smith (The Neighbors) combines the foible-filled lives of nine cousins with the spookiness of an old mansion in Provence to produce a mystery unlike the traditional whodunit. Avoiding clues and detectives, Smith piles the corpses of murdered relations onto a raging bonfire of family passions, stoked by a long-ignored scandal. The 80th birthday of the family matriarch provokes a house party where gory death continues to stalk the revelers. A crescendo of an ending worthily concludes the tale. Smith knows her Provence and writes convincingly of London and Oxford as well. As long as readers first memorize the thoughtfully provided family tree, this is a corker of a story for mystery fans, particularly those who enjoy psychological thrillers of the Ruth Rendell school. A solid buy for leisure reading and public libraries.--Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

From The Critics

Though years have passed since the tragedy and Odile Annesley, now eighty, remains in exile in Provence, refusing to have anything to do with family members. However, the octogenarian sends her will to her family. This, in turn, prompts a response from Odile's five adult grandchildren, who want reconciliation before grandmere dies. The quintet agrees to visit grandmere together without asking or warning the former Annesley matriarch. However, before journeying to Provence, the five sisters first become reacquainted with one another. After a brief period, they arrive at the forlorn remote farm house that grandmere has made home for about four decades since she fled her beloved spouse and children. However, reconciliation proves deadly as history repeats itself and someone wants to eliminate the Annesley heirs. Family Reunion is an exciting suspense thriller that takes off in the second half of the novel. Much of the first half of the story line is dedicated to introducing the five siblings. This proves a bit slow, leaving the audience to wonder if the book is a character study. However, the device ultimately pays dividends when the group reaches Provence where the action begins (second half of the novel). With a little patience, readers, especially fans of Carol Smith (see The Neighbors), will enjoy this novel, but must give it a chance as character development takes up a sizable portion of the plot.

Kirkus Reviews

Every family has secrets, but the Annesley clan probably has more than most. Why did matriarch Odile suddenly up and leave her eight kids and her beloved husband Cornelius and remain mostly incommunicado in the south of France for 40 years? Why did madcap Agnes, the ultimate party gal, suddenly enter a cloister and remain silent for the same period? Why has the body of Odile's favorite child, Roland, supposedly drowned at 18, never surfaced? Why does second-cousin Dominic Carlisle keep popping up in the lives and sexual fantasies of Odile's direct descendants Clemency, Isabelle, Madeleine, Cherie, and Elodie? Could these secrets have something to do with the brutal slashing deaths of aged Aunt Effie and Aunt Martha on the isle of Jersey and the beating to death of Pandora on a golf club in Spain? For that matter, could the Annesley family scourge be the notorious Provence Predator who's been tormenting France for decades? To celebrate her 80th birthday, Odile writes the family to tell them the terms of her will. Clemency quickly arranges a surprise reunion, but when the relatives arrive at the creepy old house in the French vineyards, they find Odile's body back by the barn. Isabelle is soon murdered, then Harry. Candles flicker, a storm is brewing, children scream, and a cross-wearing wraith appears just in time to prevent Clemency's death and tie together some, but by no means all, of the loose ends. Smith, overly fond of large casts and menacing buildings (The Neighbors, 1999, etc.), would do better to focus on compact plotting.

From the Publisher

"Elmer Kelton is an authentic American voice."--John Jakes