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HIDDEN AGENDA
by Carol Smith
Time Warner, September 2004
416 pages
6.99GBP
ISBN: 0751536350


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

News comes to London rabbi Deborah Greenberg Hirsch that her schoolmate, artist Suzy Palmer, is on trial for murdering her children. Deb gathers together the group of woman who were at school together about 30 years earlier, none of whom believe that Suzy could have done it.

The group originally consisted of five girls, Suzy, Deb, Lisa Maguire, Helen Goddard, and Miranda Sinclair who had been friends since the age of 11. A sixth, Olivia Fernshaw, became a lesser member of the group when they turned 13. Maggie Holbrook, RA, was their former art teacher, who gave Suzy private lessons, and is now tutoring Suzy's mother.

Lisa is now an attorney in London and through her contacts, gets in touch with a lawyer in New Orleans who keeps her apprised of the events surrounding Suzy's indictment. Helen has a Harvard PhD in anthropology and is a well-known author on parents and children. She now lives and works in South Africa. All three of the women are ready to fly to New Orleans to help Suzy.

Then Olivia reappears. She has remade herself from a hanger-on to a wealthy woman of the world; an actress. But she is trying to reattach herself to the group. Helen had told Deb that Olivia came to visit them in South Africa and stayed too long. One night, Olivia told Helen of her marriage and the death of her husband, and the next day, Olivia left without warning, She now reappears in London.

Lisa is living on a houseboat with a much younger jazz musician, a handsome German named Markus. Olivia tries to move in on this relationship. She also tries it on with Deb's husband, claiming to need his advice on her investments. Finally, she disappears from London, only to reappear in New Orleans where she is invited to live in the guest house on Suzy's property. When, several weeks later, the children are murdered, Suzy's husband is destroyed and Olivia gradually starts taking over.

Luckily Markus is offered a gig in New Orleans and he accepts. While he is there, he consults with the attorney Lisa had been talking to. Eventually, the truth, which leads back to schooldays, is unearthed.

This is less a mystery than a short version of one of those sagas of family life. Smith skilfully weaves past and present and comes up with a surprising climax.

Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, September 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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