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The Governess and the Stalker by Mark Morey


The Governess and the Stalker is a historical crime fiction novel written by the author Mark Morey. I was contacted with a request to participate in a book tour organized for the author.

The story is interesting enough. A rich man called James Devin marries Michelle, his children’s governess and dies during their wedding night in bed. I would argue whether this is a great way to end overall. The new stepmother of his children inherits the huge home and has some troubles getting accepted in the community. Afterall she was but a governess merely days before.

Luckily the children are attached to her and love her, and Michelle promises to herself to be the best mother for these kids she can be, even though they’re not physically hers.

Her husband’s brother, Luke, is quite enraged because he was not left anything in the will, whereas Michelle got all the goods after James’ death. Luke is in debt and asks Michelle for money so he can pay said debt. Initially she doesn’t agree, but as his wife sends her a pleading note, she finally reluctantly agrees, with one stipulation: instead of giving him the money, she will bring it to the unsavory characters herself. This way she is sure that the money goes where it’s supposed to go and not get squandered away.

Michelle travels indeed to a rundown area, quite dangerous for a lady such as herself, and almost ends up molested before being rescued by the very persons he has to bring the money to. A person who for some unknown reason makes her heart beat faster and faster.

From the very beginning, it seems that Michelle has a stalker, who will go to any lengths (including going to prison for a while) just to get his revenge on her. I was not quite sure until the very end what prompted this display of hate towards not only her, but also the whole family. He was not the usual stalker, but one who wanted revenge on everyone in James’ family, claiming that the estate is in fact his.

The story is not fast paced, and while there is plenty of suspense throughout, I found the book to be more of a period drama with some mystery involved. The descriptions of places were quite interesting and caught my attention.

The main character, Michelle, seemed to be way ahead of her time. Much too strong willed and opinionated, doing things that women of those times would simply not do – going to shady parts just to pay a debt to some criminals, all by herself? Heck even today I wouldn’t do such a thing, and in those old days women had much less rights than today.

I’m not sure I really got close to Michelle. She has some good attributes, but also some strange character traits that made her a ‘difficult character’ in my mind.

The writing was well done, although at times I felt like I’m reading a book for children, told with rather simplistic words that lacked too much strength.

Overall it was a pleasant enough book and I’m glad I had the chance to read it. At around 200 pages, it does make for a fast afternoon read.

About the author

I am part-time in the workforce and a part-time author, and writing technical documentation and advertising material formed a large part of my career for many decades. Writing a novel didn’t cross my mind until relatively recently, where the combination of too many years writing dry, technical documents and a visit to the local library where I couldn’t find a book that interested me led me consider a new pastime. Write a book. That book may never be published, but I felt my follow-up cross-cultural crime with romance hybrid set in Russia had more potential. So much so that I wrote a sequel that took those characters on a journey to a very dark place.

The Red Sun Will Come and Souls in Darkness were published by Club Lighthouse in mid-2012.  My next novel, The Governess and The Stalker will be published by Wings ePress in July 2014.  A sequel Maidens in the Night is due to be published later this year, and at the moment I am working on a historical fiction manuscript set in Italy during the 1930s.

Author Website: http://markmorey.blogspot.com.au/

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