I will admit to not enjoying the beginning of this book. It took quite a while before I was sucked into the mystery of who killed Millicent Rowe and why the lonely girls were hiding if they didn't do it. At first I didn't feel a connection to the three main characters (Mattie Smith, judge; Breeze Wheeler, sex spa owner; and Jane Mantle, first lady). It wasn't until the flashbacks started that I could feel any empathy with them and their plight.
Headmistress Millicent Rowe has four girls arrive at her finishing school on scholarship. These four girls (Mattie, Breeze, Jane and Ivy) are ostracized at the expensive boarding school and Ms. Rowe takes them under her wing. Of course, this is not an altruistic endeavor as she is training them to be sex slaves for powerful men who come cloaked in darkness. The girls are tortured for their disobedience and punished for the slightest misdemeanor. I was horrified at what the headmistress was doing to them and couldn't believe it when the went to the police and sent right back into the hornets nest. No matter who killed Millicent Rowe, she surely deserved it.
When the convicted killer, William Broud, was released because it was finally proven that he was not the killer, Jameson Cross, a writer of true crime came out of the woodwork to find the real killer. Jameson harasses and stalks Mattie almost to the point of imprisonment (she is a judge after all). He stirs up Mattie, Breeze and Jane to the point where Mattie takes a leave of absence to uncover the truth and suppress evidence, if needed. The mystery of who actually killed Millicent is fascinating but I think it was drawn out a little too long. I found myself getting bored with the repetitions and at some points felt it needed to just get on with it.
Headmistress Millicent Rowe has four girls arrive at her finishing school on scholarship. These four girls (Mattie, Breeze, Jane and Ivy) are ostracized at the expensive boarding school and Ms. Rowe takes them under her wing. Of course, this is not an altruistic endeavor as she is training them to be sex slaves for powerful men who come cloaked in darkness. The girls are tortured for their disobedience and punished for the slightest misdemeanor. I was horrified at what the headmistress was doing to them and couldn't believe it when the went to the police and sent right back into the hornets nest. No matter who killed Millicent Rowe, she surely deserved it.
When the convicted killer, William Broud, was released because it was finally proven that he was not the killer, Jameson Cross, a writer of true crime came out of the woodwork to find the real killer. Jameson harasses and stalks Mattie almost to the point of imprisonment (she is a judge after all). He stirs up Mattie, Breeze and Jane to the point where Mattie takes a leave of absence to uncover the truth and suppress evidence, if needed. The mystery of who actually killed Millicent is fascinating but I think it was drawn out a little too long. I found myself getting bored with the repetitions and at some points felt it needed to just get on with it.
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