GR: That's interesting, so it was ultimately a practical storytelling concern. And that was a deliberate decision because I knew she was going to go into a situation where she was going to deceive others, and I wanted to give her the tools to do that. She's someone who's made her living by reading other people-by being a cold reader, essentially. She's deliberately using psychology and her knowledge of other people to tell them what she thinks they want to hear. She's basically doing it because it's the only way she knows how to make a living.

She doesn't believe that they have any magic or any occult significance.

She doesn't believe in the power of the cards. She's a tarot reader, but she's a cynical tarot reader. Someone who was prepared to deceive other people for money.

Someone who deliberately walks into a situation and sets out to commit a crime. I wanted to write about someone who brings events down upon themselves. Ruth Ware: I had written three books about people who stumbled into situations-people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Speaking from her home in England, Ware talked with Goodreads contributor Glenn McDonald about winter boardwalks, creepy old mansions, and the benefits of reading several books at once.ġ of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Goodreads: Tarot cards play a significant role in the new book-how did that element come into play? In fact, she has no idea who she is.īut why sweat the details? Hal jumps a train and heads out for the reading of the will, to be held at the proverbial manor on the moors.

The only complication? Hal isn't actually related to the recently departed. When she discovers that she's in line for an inheritance, things seem to be brightening up nicely. Our twentysomething heroine, Harriet 'Hal' Westaway, makes a living, barely, by reading tarot card fortunes on the local tourist town boardwalk. Westaway, is another celebration of the delightfully grim. Her previous novels- The Woman in Cabin 10, In a Dark, Dark Wood, and The Lying Game-riff on classic mystery templates, with women who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her mystery and thriller novels have been compared to Golden Age crime writers like Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, and Dorothy L. British author Ruth Ware keeps good company.

Ruth ware the death of mrs westaway