House with no Keyholes
I picked this up because my secret Santa gave me a book by this author and I rather enjoyed the writing style. I am a sucker for mysteries this year and this one was a rather well written one. This book is written as a letter to an attorney from a prisoner awaiting trial. The narrator is a nanny who is in prison for allegedly killing one of the small children in her care.
The letter recounts the story of how this the narrator was happily working at a day care in London until she saw an ad for a live-in nanny position. This job would be taking care of four kids in a large estate, with an exceptionally generous compensation package. Even though she wasn’t really looking for a new job, she applies immediately. Who wouldn’t? Before the interview, she is given a warning that the last several nannies have left quickly because of rumors that the house was haunted. I loved the suspense build up. I hated the parents of the children. I felt that it was rather forward of the parents to just leave the kids with someone who just got hired. I do not think that anyone should raise their children based off of a binder. The three girls who live at home are 1, 5 and 8 (the older daughter, 15 years old is away at boarding school). Since Rowan is the fifth nanny is six months’ time, they are not interested in making friends with her and are not at all happy to be left alone with her. I loved the girls and their hot and cold interactions with Rowan. By the time you get to the end of the book you are going to want to know what happened to the girls and why Rowan did what she did or did she?
