It was a joy to be reunited with to be reunited with Ffion and Leo for the third of the books from Clare Mackintosh in the DCI Ffion Morgan series. And, this third one was just as good as I was expecting it to be, in fact maybe even better.
‘Other People’s Houses’ was a fantastic study of character, as well as being a great murder mystery/police procedural story. Each chapter is told from a different viewpoint, changing between Ffion and her case, Leo and his case, and Leo’s ex-wife and her attempts to find her position with the residents of a rather posh area of town, The Hill. Their experiences and stories all become entwined as two seemingly unrelated cases – a murder and set of break-ins – soon reveal that they have more in common than it first appears.
I find the books of Clare Mackintosh to be compulsive reading; I could not put this down, as I was not just intrigued by all the mystery surrounding the events in the book, but I was also keen to see how the relationships between characters would develop. There is, of course, Leo and Ffion, who we have followed through the previous two books. But now there is another dynamic with Leo’s ex-wife thrown more into the mix, also with how she interacts with all those who live on The Hill, and that interesting look at almost how ‘the other half live’. And, maybe, we should be careful what we wish for, or who we look up to.
No spoilers, as always, with a book that has something that needs to be revealed or has a twist. But this book had me on the edge of my seat as we got closer to the conclusion of the story. I had to just keep reading until I knew where we were going with the story.
I did not solve this one before the characters, but I worked out a couple of clues as we went, although not enough to reach the full solution – and I am okay with that. I do not read these books to try and actively solve them; if I spot some clues, then I am happy.
I really hope this is not the last we hear of Ffion and Leo; I think there is one more story in there for these two as their lives have changed from the first book to now.