33 Women by Isabel Ashdown

 

Celine and her sister Pip have come to town to arrange their mother's funeral and clear out her belongings.  They hadn't spent much time there as their mother always put whatever man was around before her children.  Celine and Pip can't help but notice the gap inside that is caused by their sister who is gone.  Vanessa's murdered body was found here years ago but the murder was never solved.

Along with Una, their retired police friend, the sisters decide it's time once and for all to find some answers.  There is renewed police interest in Vanessa's case because a local woman, Robin, has been recently found murdered and both women had the same tattoo.  Robin lived at and was a member of a women's commune called Two Cross Farm.  The commune shelters women who have had hard lives but has very strict rules, allowing no possessions and requiring total obedience and work.  The commune has determined that thirty-three women is the right number of women for the membership to have.  

Celine and Una believe that the commune is involved somehow as are the police.  One of the commune's basic rules is that no men are allowed so the two are grudgingly accepted instead as the police representatives.  They find a few tantalizing clues about Robin's fate and it turns out that their sister had lived there as well.  Can the three women find the answers they have looked for all these years?

Isabel Ashdown has written a page-turning mystery with lots of twists and turns.  There is a thick layer of secrecy at the commune and it takes various methods to break through to the truth after all these years.  There are some extra threads that could have been omitted such as Pip's marriage and its breakdown but overall the story is engaging.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did a great job.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.