Such A Lovely Family by Aggie Blum Thompson

 

While looking through my bookshelf for something to read, I found Such a Lovely Family by Aggie Blum Thompson and decided to reread it. In the book, the Calhouns are the picture-perfect, ideal American, upper-class family. Thom and Ginny Calhoun have everything anyone could possibly want: a beautiful house in Washington, D.C., a successful business, and plenty of money. Most importantly, they raised three beautiful children named Trey, Nate and Ellie Grace.

The book starts off at the family's annual cherry blossom party held at the Calhoun house. Guests and family are enjoying food and one another’s company. However, the party is quickly cut short after a murder takes place. Thom is murdered and Ginny was left badly injured inside the house. The party turns into a crime scene while detectives search to find the murderer, questioning guests including Renée, Ginny’s closest friend. Every guest at the party is considered a suspect and everyone, even Ginny's children, are interrogated. Tension starts building in the family as news reporters and investigators are constantly surrounding the three siblings.

Each chapter follows the perspective of a different character. The events are narrated in the perspective of Ginny, her three children, Nate's fiancée, Renée, and even a caterer, allowing the readers to see how each character processes grief and suspicion in different ways. Each perspective slowly reveals new information about the murder. While the detectives uncover the case, secrets are discovered and the image of the perfect family starts to break.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had me hooked from the very first chapters, and reading it a second time was just as fun. The story is written in third person, which gives it an interesting narrative style. Although I usually prefer first person stories, it was easy to adjust to the third person perspective. Chapters are divided with the perspectives of different characters. The multiple perspectives made the book even more interesting and gave more details to the story. I also thought that the secrets revealed throughout the story added complexity and depth to the characters which made the overall story more interesting. Though I wasn’t making constant guesses, when I first read the book I made a few predictions about who the killer might be. The book never felt dragged out and each chapter only made me more interested in finding out who the murderer might be.

Even though I had correctly predicted the ending while reading it for the first time, I still found this to be a really good book. While the ending may be predictable to those that have read many mysteries, I would still recommend Such a Lovely Family to anyone trying to get into the genre.

- Niveditha