Name: Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace
ISBN: 9780595706822

Catherine Johnson

Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace

Sarah Sammis

Take The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, remove Hercule Poirot and transplant the story to Minnesota and you get Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace by Catherine Johnson.

Kay recounts matter-of-factly the way her brother's new bride Pamela single handedly sets out to destroy her new family. She is a fowl mouthed, cocaine addicted alcoholic and gold digger. The only good she brings to the family is a daughter born early on in the marriage.

Kay's dispassionate narrative of the four years from the marriage to the end of the book never wavers. It reads a bit like Truman Capote's true crime book In Cold Blood. It was her own cold blooded approach to the role as protagonist and narrator that first made me see the connection to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Kay reminded me of Dr. Sheppard.

Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace

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