I received a copy of Inheritance of Secrets by Sonya Bates from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed the twists and turns Bates created in this novel, which pits Juliet against modern-day Nazis trying to cover up their murder of her grandparents in their Adelaide, Australia home. Unaware of her grandfather's connections with the Nazis during World War II, Juliet tries to unravel the mystery of who killed her beloved grandparents and why, after so many years, they needed to be killed.

I think what I liked most about this story is the intricacies of Juliet's family dynamics. Families are rarely anything other than messy and Juliet's family--full of secrets and misunderstandings--is no exception. How she tried to uncover long-held secrets and heal brokenness in her own family is compelling.

I give Inheritance of Secrets by Sonya Bates a solid 4 stars.

I really tried to like this book because it seemed like it will be an excellent mystery. However, there were some disturbing scenes that made me uncomfortable. Still, I recommend this for fans of World War II and thrillers!

This was a pretty good book. The book bounces back and forth between WWII era and current day so two stories unfold at the same time. I enjoy books that have a slight twinge of complication like this one does. I felt the ending was really a mystery up until it was revealed. I kept changing my mind on how I thought it would unfold. Recommended for historical fiction and mystery lovers.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: death, murder, violence, kidnapping, anti-Semitism, domestic verbal/emotional abuse.

Juliet Dunne is horrified -- and completely confused -- when her grandparents are murdered in their own home. Was it merely a home invasion gone wrong? It's only when Juliet finally gets into contact with her estranged sister Lily that she realizes something else is going on. Claiming she's being stalked, fearful that she will be next, Lily reveals information that suddenly makes Juliet wonder what's really going on. Was the Karl Weiss she knew the same man who grew up in Nazi Germany and was sent to the front at eighteen? Could he have been more deeply involved in the horror of the Nazi regime? And will the secrets he kept then come back to haunt Juliet and Lily?

I never grow tired of reading books set during WWII. Although this book is primarily set in modern-day Adelaide, there are postwar sections, and the main gist of the plot asks what exactly Juliet's beloved grandfather might have been up to when the Reich ruled Germany. I couldn't imagine something better suited to me than a thriller mixed in with historical fiction!

In the beginning, however, I wasn't too sure that I was clicking with the story Bates's was telling. Her writing is not exactly my cup of tea, which probably prevented me from immediately becoming immersed; I found it simplistic, but not in a way that I enjoyed. Once the ball started rolling, though, I was intrigued and actually eager to pick this back up and get to the next chapter. It helps that the history here is so fascinating, and I think we can all relate to the feeling of not truly understanding that our grandparents (and parents) were once young people with their own lives separate from us.

So, why did this end up being four stars for me? Well, mainly because the plot unfolds quickly and with a great deal of intrigue. It was exciting to try and figure out what exactly was going on, and whether Karl was truly the innocent, kind man that his loved ones believed him to be. Now, I do have a few nitpicks here: I was a bit disappointed by the ultimate twist of the story, which could've been handled a bit better and would've benefitted from a bit of tightening up. Also: to avoid spoilers, I won't say much, but I found the culprit to be ridiculously stupid at the end! I also think that there was so much suspense about Karl that the conclusion ended up feeling like a bit of a let down (to be fair, some of these things may be altered before publishing).

That being said, the story itself is tons of fun, and I definitely enjoyed the questions surrounding Karl's life. I must also mention that I feel Bates handled the topics discussed here with the gravity they deserve. The characters could've used a bit more complexity, particularly Karl and Juliet, but I rather loved Lily and Juliet's (former?) best friend, Ellis.

If you love mysteries and historical fiction, I highly recommend giving this one a shot. It's got enough suspense to keep you on the hook, but there is also a fascinating dynamic between the two sisters here that is by turns sad and heartwarming. This is Bates's debut -- I'll certainly be on the lookout for her future novels!

Historical fiction + crime fiction + World War II mystery

YES PLEASE.

Sonya's grandparents are murdered. Her grandfather's ring is missing. What happens next lead into a mystery that takes Sonya back to 1940's Germany and a mysterious package. This is the kind of book that my dad and grandpa would have loved.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book .

When Karl Weiss and his wife were murdered in their home in Adelaide, their granddaughter Juliet could not understand who would want to harm an older man who was loved and admired by everyone who knew him. The on,y item missing from their home was the signet ring that Karl always wore. Juliet and her sister Lily were raised by Karl and Grete when their father died and their mother ran away. She has had little contact with Lily unless her sister was in need of money. Now she has to find her and break the tragic news. When she tracks her down, Lily seems paranoid and warns that they are both in danger. Lily had taken the ring on her last visit and put it on the internet to sell it. Since then she has been followed and threatened. The ring originally belonged to a German officer who was in charge of art acquisition for Hitler. How Karl came into its’ possession and the reason for his murder is revealed through his story.

At the end of WWII, Karl returned to Germany to find Grete and his family. Grete was in the Russian zone and warned him not to return. With the help of his friend Hans, they booked passage to Australia to start over. Sonja Bates alternates chapters between the present day search for answers and Karl’s journey from Germany to Australia. In the present, Julia calls on Jason, the lawyer that she has been seeing for several years,, for support. After all of their time together, this crisis finally opens her eyes to his ambitions. She also rediscovers her friendship with Ellis , a reporter with the contacts that she needs. Lily has a questionable past that has taught her how to hide off the grid and it is a lesson that she shares with Juliet as they are pursued by the people who killed their grandparents. There is a level of tension that Bates steadily increases until a final confrontation that will keep you turning pages to the very end. I would like to thank NetGalley and Harper 360 for making this book available for my review.

This is a dual time-line historical fiction mystery/murder novel. One timeline you have Juliet, a successful writer living in Australia in 2009. The book opens with Juliet identifying the bodies of her Opa and Oma, (grandparents) whom she has just been told were murdered in their bedroom. Juliet is horrified, who would want to harm her sweet old grandparents? They were pillars of their community for over 50 years, owning a string of successful bakeries, always willing to reach out and help a neighbor, not to mention raising Juliet and her older sister Lily after their father dies and mother disappears. Juliet is questioned by police detectives but she has more questions than answers. As for her sister Lily, Juliet tries contacting her only to find out her husband is looking for her also, she went to borrow money from her grandparents a few days before their murder and hasn't returned.
The second timeline is the grandparent's, Karl and Grete. After his 18th birthday Karl joins as a soldier in the Wehrmacht, leaving his beloved Grete behind. It is 1944 and the end of the war is near. Sent to the front, Karl survives till the war ends. Upon returning home he finds his family is gone. Karl searches but finds no trace. Eventually he encounters a friend and fellow soldier, Hans, who takes Karl under his wing, sharing his plan to immigrate to Australia. They eventually do immigrate although Grete stays behind caring for her ailing mother and follows years later.
This is a good solid debut novel, the plot is intriguing though somewhat implausible The characters are personable, maybe a little more depth could be developed but on the whole I liked Juliet and felt for her. I liked Ellis also and wanted to slap Jason, so pretty good on the characters. The pace was good and steady for the biggest part. there was a little bit of a lag towards the middle or that could have just been me being distracted by life.
All in all a good first novel, keeps you reading, a unique plot that shows us a side of WWII history that we do not see portrayed much, the side of German citizens and German soldiers and how they were treated after the war, especially how immigrating Germans were accepted in their adoptive countries.
I recommend this book to historical fiction fans who like a little murder/mystery thrown in with thir history lesson. Solid 4 stars, novel comes out December 14,2021, in time for Christmas.
Thank you to Harper 360 and Net Galley for the free ARC of this novel, I am leaving my honest review in return.

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read Inheritance Of Secrets. The dual storylines definitely kept my interest! Karl & Grete's story of a love that survived the horrors of war is inspiring. Juliet's struggle for the truth after her life was turned completely upside down rings so true. This is a story with heart. I thouroughly enjoyed it.

This book will give you all of the family drama, secrets and deception you can hope for in a plot-line! I finished this one so quickly because I was swept away into the story. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360, HarperCollins AU for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Sometimes secrets deeply buried in the past can worm their way into the present… an excellent mystery combining a wartime mystery and a present day murder of an elderly couple whose two granddaughters are trying to make sense of. A great book!

Historical fiction is difficult for me to read, especially the German/Nazi war subject. It's such a traumatically sad part of the world's past. I can only read about that time in small doses, I read to escape reality, but I've always loved history. There is some descriptive violence, it would be impossible to write about Nazi Germany without it.
The story alternates between 2009 and 1943, Australia and Germany. As I've said before, I don't particularly care for the back and forth. There were many abbreviations, phrases and words I did not know. Thank goodness for Wikipedia and Google or I would've given up! It did however slow down my reading and take away from the continuity for me. Perhaps listening as an audiobook would have been easier.
Juliet (Jules) opens the door to detectives informing her that her Opa and Oma have been discovered murdered. Her only real family since her Mum walked out and her sister, Lily, left.
The investigation takes several surprising turns, uncovering long buried secrets, people and a past Jules never knew existed.
There is an abundant amount of what seems to be diligently researched historical data. It opened my eyes to the refugees fleeing to Australia in a part of history I was unaware of. The prison camps, training camp, migrant camp, the relocation efforts, the stolen artifacts and stolen identities were authentic and realistic.
There was beauty in the chaos of the war, hunger and pain. The author wove a lovely, touching lovestory about Jules' grandparents. The hardships and time apart only strengthened their commitment to each other, which lasted a lifetime.
Jules is determined to find out not only who, but why her grandparents were murdered. She will search for her sister and rely on her boyfriend, Jason, to support her. She will be disappointed by some of those she loves. She will reconnect with an old friend, Ellis, now a reporter. He appears to be concerned for her, but then pens an article about the murders. Jules needs to know the truth of who her grandfather was before she can know why they wanted him dead. All of her digging into the past may get her, Lily and Ellis killed. Jules may learn why secrets should remain secret. And some of the people she counts on to help her find the truth about her grandparents will betray her.
There is a well organized set of reading group questions included. If there was one niggling pet peeve I had, it would be Jules was thirtyish, but quite naïve and gullible.
The story should remind us all what ordinary people did for freedom. There is something for all readers in this story, love, hate, mystery, suspense, history, romance, domestic drama easily 4.5 Stars.
Thanks to Netgalley, Sonya Bates, and Harper Collins Publishers for the advance digital copy of Inheritance of Secrets . these thoughts and opinions are mine alone, given voluntarily.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited to read Inheritance of Secrets when I first saw the cover and read the description. A woman’s grandparent’s are murdered, and then she discovers they were nazis. That sounded like such a cool prompt and couldn’t wait to read it.

The first chapter was fine. Then at the second chapter there was something I was not prepared for: a dual timeline, from her grandfather’s perspective.

Now, I’m all for dual timelines most of the time; however, in this case the second timeline’s protagonist was a literal nazi and his love story. Y’all, this book is a literal nazi romance novel. What the fuck.

Why would anybody write a novel with sympathetic nazis? I don’t care if he once helped an elderly German woman who was married to a Jew, or that after the war he said it was a mistake. He still fought in the war on the side of the nazis and is therefore a nazi.

The book spends a lot of time defending the grandfather, qualifying his actions. “I can tell you right now that Karl Weiss was not a Nazi and didn’t commit any war crimes. He wasn’t even a member of the Nazi party.” Yet this man was a member of Hitler Youth until he turned 18, when he joined the military to fight for the nazis. So we’re supposed to accept that you can fight on the side of nazis while not yourself being a nazi? Hell no. A nazi is a nazi, and if he was *just* complicit he is still a nazi.

Not only does this book attempt to make nazis sympathetic, it then attempts to draw parallels between the discrimination against jews during the war with the discrimination against nazis after the war. In the first flashback chapter they show the grandparents (as teens) protecting an elderly woman during an air raid, and the rest of the bunker refusing to let her stay because she is married to a jew, telling her that her kind wasn’t welcome there. Later, when the grandfather and friends are on a boat emigrating to Australia, one of the nazis starts spewing nazi nonsense, and the boat people respond that his kind aren’t welcome there. Creating a parallel between these scenarios is frankly disgusting on the authors part.

In addition to the nazi sympathizer garbage this book is stuffed with, it also was confusingly written. The flashbacks explain early on how the grandfather acquired his ring, but then the middle section of the present narrative is dedicated to uncovering whether or not he was a war criminal who stole that ring. The whole storyline is delivered as a tense mystery, but there was no tension because the reader had already been told the truth about it.

Overall, this is a book that shouldn’t have been written. Sure, the afterword explains that she was inspired by her own nazi grandparents, but this book could have easily been written without attempting to make a nazi soldier likable or respectable. I’d apologize for this harsh review, but I’m not sorry for calling this what it is. Nazis don’t deserve nuanced portraits, and to do so is inappropriate.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Great character development and plot and I definitely recommend this book and author and will be on the lookout for more by her!

The past awakens and murders in this novel. Its victims are a lovely elderly couple, first generation immigrants to Australia who have built a nice life for themselves there for five decades, settling there after the Second World War.
It wasn’t easy then at first, not coming from a country responsible for so much tragedy and devastation, but Karl Weiss had managed, he was never a Nazi technically, he was merely a soldier. Ideologically, he wasn’t committed and the rest can be dismissed as semantics. But it wasn’t that way for some of his compatriots, not then and not now.
There are those intended to preserve the ugly and dangerous ideology and they recognize no statutes of limitations.
And so in 2009 a young woman finds herself entangled in the twisted webs of NeoNazis as she tries to solve the murder of her beloved grandparents, with assistance of her oft disappearing sister and a potentially loyalty conflicted reporter friend. And yes, technically the cops are involved also, but this is very much a family matter and as such it ought to be solved by the family.
The story intrigued me with the Nazi angle, most if not all WWII stories are very compelling by nature, the great battle of good and evil has seldom had a more perfect stage to play out upon and thus creates for the most exceptional dynamics and dramatics. I’m also partial to a good immigrant experience story. And historical fiction. And thrillers. And murder mysteries. So really, there was a lot of attractors here.
Exectuion wise, it was pretty decent. There’s something quite plain and flat about the writing, maybe a debut thing, maybe a remnant of the author’s children’s books writing time, but overall it worked decently enough and made for a pretty good read. Thanks Netgalley.

A brutal murder. A wartime promise. A woman on the run.
No matter how fast you run, your past will always catch up to you.....

I was absolutely blown away by the Inheritance of Secrets. This is a well written, compelling novel, that will have you instantly hooked from chapter one. I literally could not turn the pages fast enough. The Inheritance of secrets is both murder and mystery.

Juliet was raised by her grandparents, Karl and Grete. Juliet's father had passed away and her mother disappeared. Juliet now has to do the unthinkable and identify the murdered bodies of her grandparents. Was Juliet's sister involved in the murder?

Sonya Bates is an incredible author and one to definitely keep an eye on. I instantly became a fan of her writing style and the unique way she took a modern story and intertwined it in with a historical past. Five star read!

The Inheritance of Secrets is a fast-moving, intricate mystery that looks at family secrets and the history of Nazi involvement in one family's lives. Juliet's beloved grandparents are brutally murdered in Adelaide, and the past of her grandfather, a German soldier from WWII, is revealed and examined . What led to this shocking turn of events throws Juliet and her estranged sister, Lily, into danger and a desperate desire to clear their grandfather's name. With a compelling cast of characters, quickly-moving plot, and non-stop action, this book will keep you engaged to the very end.

This book reminded me of The London House, which I just finished reading. There are a lot of similarities between these two books so if you enjoyed that one you will love this one. And as a bonus, we get an Australian setting!

I love a book that starts with a murder and this one is even more intriguing; Opa and Oma in their bed and the granddaughter, Juliet, tasked with solving the who and why of this brutal crime.

This book is more than a modern-day thriller. In fact, I’d say it is more of a historical fiction genre. I loved the dual timelines of past and present, but the past was so much more compelling to read as that’s where the story unfolds. We learn about the grandparents’ past and their emigration to Australia after WWII. Things aren’t as they seem. This format works well as the plot is revealed by Juliet’s voice modern day and a third person narrator tells us Karl’s story. There are also several letters used to move the plot along. We are teased with lots of possibilities and the ultimate solving of the mystery is quite believable. I appreciated the ending as not a complete resolution. Maybe there is a sequel in the cards? The mother is still an unknown character.
I loved the historical parts of this novel, seeing glimpses of war-torn Germany at the end of the war was so interesting. We don’t get a lot of literature in the immediate time after WWII and I can’t remember seeing WWII refugees in another work. The journey to Australia and the reception there for Germans was eye-opening.

Juliet is a likeable character who is pretty hard on herself as she deals with past guilt. There is definitely a family saga/drama element to her tale. Her interactions with Jason and Ellis add a bit of a romance element to this book that I don’t think was really needed but it did entertain. There also is a sister dynamic which I always enjoy. I want to meet the grandparents. Even though we never meet them, I get the idea that they were warm hearted wonderful people and their legacy carries on with Lily and Juliet.

Don’t skip the author’s note. I really appreciated it and it deepened my understanding of this book.

Thanks to Sonya Bates, Harper Collins and NetGalley for the advance read. I have another author to add to my TBR! This is an outstanding debut and I look forward to more.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved this one. Very fast paced, had me turning pages as I tore through it – I had to see how it would end. The characters were well rounded and the narrative felt believable. Gave me chills. Solid five

The book kept me intrigued and kept me going probably because I too had an opa and o a… however, I really didn’t find the characters terribly relatable or the story realistic in any way shape or form. The book in some ways reminded me of another identity switch but in the end, a nazi is a nazi.