This was a surprisingly dark and twisted mystery very much in the vein of Agatha Christie and Daphne Du Maurier.

It concerns the three Linwood siblings who return to the ancestral home after the murder of their adoptive father.

The surface murder mystery is only a vehicle however for a critical examination of the postwar period in the 1920s.

I wouldn’t say I enjoyed this book (it was a bit too dark with a pervading unease for that) but it kept me absorbed. The mystery was clever and the world building was detailed and convincing. I would definitely recommend.

I loved this book. Descriptive, rich vocabulary. Amazing descriptions. The plot takes the reader on a turbulent journey. Downtown Abbey era, murder mystery coupled with a dysfunctional family set in the Yorkshire moors. Loved it.

Christopher Huang returns with his second book, which is a homage to Golden Age locked room mysteries. I love a good locked room mystery, where it's inconceivable that anyone could have made it past a locked, sturdy door to murder someone. Of course, this book isn't just presenting a solution to that puzzle, but also touches on transnational adoption, identity, eugenics, and abuse.

Three adopted siblings are called back home: Alan recently returned from Peru and his archeological dig, Roger looking to make a name for himself in airplane engineering, and Caroline, a journalist, home from Paris where she is based.

Lord and Lady Linwood could not have children, so Lord Linwood adopted each of the children while on his travels. He raised them on his family's estate, held for centuries by the Linwoods (the associated town is Linwood Hollow). Lord Linwood was extremely strict, and raised the three kids to be eventual leaders in their respected professions. His approach was uncompromising, teaching the kids to be entirely self-centred, driven, constantly striving for perfection and to be the only ones left standing in any confrontation or debate.

The three adults are utterly shocked to find their father was murdered, and that a stipulation of his will was that the one who solved his murder would be the sole winner of the estate.

Uncomfortable initially, Alan, Caroline and Roger begin investigating, exposing some seriously horrible secrets about their father's intentions in adopting them, as well as his treatment of everyone in his life. The more they dig, the uglier their pasts look.

This is a quiet, slow-moving story, which starts with us meeting the three adult children, all reluctant to return home, and ambivalent about their feelings for each other and their parents. That their father is still trying to control them even after his death is unsurprising to them, but they still are very eager to obtain his approval, giving us an inkling to how messed up their relationship to him was.

Huang gradually reveals a family steeped in manipulation, abuse, firm discipline and punishment, with all, including Lady Linwood, suffering at Lord Linwood's hands. That the three even still have any fondness for the other is amazing, but as kids, their only respite from their harsh upbringing was when they played together.

I will admit that I had figured out part of the mystery early on, and had my suspicions about the rest confirmed once a pretty big plot point was revealed. That didn't detract from my enjoyment of this story. I liked the siblings, and how they reacted to each new revelation about themselves and their family.

Huang presents a carefully constructed story, with each of the siblings' points of view taking us through their reactions to each new ugly twist their investigation unearths. This is a homage to the Golden Age mysteries, and it's also an interesting exploration of a seriously dysfunctional family whose legacy is built on lies, violence and ambition. I enjoyed it, and look forward to Christopher Huang's next story.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Inkshares for this ARC in exchange for my review.

A well written and fascinating whodunit, atmospheric and gripping.
I loved the tightly knitted plot and the well developed characters.
An interesting story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkshares for the egalley! This sounded so promising and I was initially so intrigued, however I found myself bored. I assumed the siblings would race to out-sleuth the other in order to solve the mystery of their father’s murder, instead, they become wrapped up in old dark secrets, which would be interesting if there hadn’t been a murder. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review ahead of the publishing date.

This was unexpectedly pretty good with an amazing plot twist at the end. The blurb had seemed so unassuming and typical of a murder mystery, but the book was an absolute page-turner all throughout as the layers of the mystery are gradually unpeeled. Not in the sense of a thriller, but in the sense that our main characters continue to discover many new pieces of information but not much seems to be making sense in the way of solving the crime and more questions keep popping up.

The book features three main characters: Alan, Roger, and Caroline, the adopted children of Sir Lawrence Linwood. Under his care, they were given an excellent but cutthroat education courtesy of their ruthlessly ambitious father, who instilled in them that nothing should stop them in their journey to the top. Each having gone their own paths, they once again return to their childhood home for the funeral of their father, who was murdered. However, when his will was read, they were all given a huge surprise: whoever among the three finds his killer will obtain the entire Linwood estate.

It sounds standard, but it's darker than you would expect. It's a deep pit. And as the mystery unfurls, we get to know each of the Linwood children better through the different perspectives, as well as the pervasive presence of Sir Linwood in their formative years and in the entire area like a local overlord. We see them trying to shake off their father's looming shadow, which continues to have a strong hold over them even though he's already dead. In addition, alongside the three siblings is Iris, Roger's fiancee who accompanied him to the funeral, and she basically serves as the main outsider perspective in this sordid affair. All in all, pretty mind-boggling, especially when the pieces began falling into place at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkshares for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book.

As this story opened I expected to read about sibling rivalry, between brothers, (First Born versus second), (between brothers and their sister, as in men count and woman don't.) , but was instead drawn into issues concerning adoption, bullying and family dynamics that kept me reading and reading. I looking for more from this author.

I really liked this book. The characters are well thought out and come to life through Huang's words. I always enjoy a good mystery that is told from multiple points of view and this one did not disappoint. There were interesting secondary characters that jumped right off the page. I really enjoyed the story and the arc of the plot. I recommend this book for mystery readers.

The premise for this book was very intriguing to me, and I regret that I let it sit on my shelf for so long before reading it! I think I may have had a better experience reading it at the time I first heard about it, but that is not how it went. I found this book to be lackluster. The setting and the characters are all interesting in theory, but in practice they became muddled and flat.

The women in this book were props, no personality to speak of from Caroline or Iris, while we got pages and pages of war flashbacks from Roger which didn’t add enough to the story to justify their inclusion. Every flashback seemed to slam the brakes on the present day story, and often that would be where I set the book down for a few days, having lost all momentum.

I thought the premise of this book was excellent and I would be interested in reading future work by Huang, I think there is certainly the possibility of improvement!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Inkshares, for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review!!

Thanks to Inkshares, Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this unbiased review voluntarily.

I haven't read anything by this author before but I am going to rectify that soon. This was an absolutely cracking mystery with a hint of Agatha Christie (post WWI) and some modern twisty turns that I just did not see coming.

I really can't say much about the story without giving too much away, but adopted siblings Alan, Roger and Caroline are charged with finding their father's killer in order to inherit his vast wealth and estate. There are some other brilliant characters in this (Iris stole my heart immediately) and, of course, the villain is extremely villainous.

The language and floe of writing puts the reader right into 1920's post-war England, at a time where science and innovation was at its height, with perhaps, less monitoring than there should have been (parallels can be drawn to modern times) but that is all I am going to say!

This is too clever a mystery for you to miss out on! Highly recommended.

For me personally this book was quite difficult to read and it took me quite long to do that but I'm very glad I finished it and got to enjoy the beautiful ending. And on the whole everything in this story was great - the setting, the characters, the pace, the twists... everything.

The main mystery element is quite classic - the head of the family death followed by sophisticated investigation. But the way each of the main charactes is finding out about their own origin and how their father's urge for control has influenced them throughout their lives is what's truly interesting here. At least it was so for me while I was reading this book, so I think I'll definitely recommend it to those who love family mysteries with good character development.

Christopher Huang has a distinct knack for crafting mysteries set in classic manor house style, and Unnatural Ends does not disappoint.

In the trope of -who will be the victim's heir- three adopted siblings must find their father's killer. As they investigate, Alan, Roger, and Caroline grapple with their places within the family dynamic, how each came to be adopted, and what lessons they've learned tfrom their father.

Sounds basic, right? Add in some post-Edwardian values, villagers pulling on their forelocks, many more murders, motherhood, honor, gaslighting, cunning and ruthlessness, and an intricate plot.

It's a must read, as is Huang's debut novel, A Gentleman's Murder.

Unnatural Ends is a mystery set in 1921 after the death of Sir Lawrence Linwood. When his three adopted children come home for the funeral, they learn that their father was brutally murdered. And according to his will, the one who can solve the crime will inherit his estate. Throughout the book, we discover Sir Lawrence Linwood’s dark, manipulative history and how that affects his children. An interesting premise, but I felt like it was 100 pages too long.

This was almost a DNF for me. The beginning was so slow but at around 25-30% it got better. If you’re going into this thinking it’s a cozy historical mystery be warned it is actually, surprisingly extremely dark. There’s child abuse, spousal abuse, animal abuse, eugenics, and more.

What I liked: the setting of Linwood Hall and Linwood Hollow, the time period felt very authentic, and the overall mystery of the story.

What I did not like: pretty much all of the characters, the 3 Linwood children were not very likable in my opinion. And their father, I’m shocked nobody tried to kill him long before this.

Thanks to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review.

i was so bored. So bored and I really wanted to love this book.

I felt the characters were a snorefest and I had to push myself to finish it and it didn't get better.

It sounded so great but it was bland :( I'm sorry!

Canadian author Christopher Huang’s new crime caper might not have the brutal one-liners of Succession, but it does have an unscrupulous patriarch who takes pleasure in manipulating and pitting his three children against one another – even after his death.

April 1921: Sir Lawrence Linwood has been violently bludgeoned to death in his study, presumably by someone he knows. His untimely death brings his three adopted children back home where they’re met with an unexpected request in their father’s will. An unorthodox clause states that, in the case of his unnatural death, the child who finds his killer will inherit his estate.

Read the rest of the review here: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2023/06/23/unnatural-ends-christopher-huang/

3.5/5

The book is promising but fell short for me. Don’t get me wrong I still liked it, especially the family dynamics. I wish there was more of that and not the mystery. The ending was cool as hell too.

Tangled lives meet tangled plot. While the ending was satisfying it was messy to get there. Thanks to #NetGalley and #UnnaturalEnds for advanced digital copy.

So many layers to this tale!

This was the first book by Christopher Huang that I have read; granted his first book caught my eye with its cover. That is in the TBR pile now!

I was a little bit intimidated when I saw that this was 450 pages, but it flew by. I just had to keep going to the next page to see what else unfolded. I had my theories, but not all were correct.

What’s fun is getting the different perspectives. It helped to put all the pieces together (like the cover of the book). This book is like a giant onion: you have to peel away a lot of layers to get to the center. I had a mental mind map of things going on as it unraveled, but felt like I was playing one of those games where you solve the crime and have pieces of evidence spread out on a table to reflect upon.

The other thing that I really enjoyed about this book was how descriptive it was. It was set in the early 1900’s and I felt like I was there; with the way that a car was described, or a wall/floor, scent of a cigarette - it was so easy to escape my reality and jump into the setting of this book.

Thank you so much to the author, Christopher Huang, Inkshares and NetGalley for this eARC of Unnatural Ends in exchange for my review!

I received a complimentary ARC copy of Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang from Net Galley & Inkshares in order to read and give an honest review.

… a slow burning, complex, dark psychological mystery set in the perfect stormy moors of a Yorkshire estate. With multiple suspects, and even more motives, Huang crafted a clever, well-written and satisfying read that I would recommend for those who enjoy unique historical mysteries with a twist…

In 1921 Linwood Hall towers over the Yorkshire moors and the tiny village of Linwood Hollow as does the legacy of the family who resides there. As Alan, Roger and Caroline, the adopted children of Sir Lawrence Linwood and his wife return home to bury their father, they reminisce about how driven their father was to craft them into perfect adults with perfect lives.

Linwood Hall’s fate lies in the reading of Sir Lawrence’s will which states should Sir Lawrence die of natural causes, Linwood Hall is to be placed on market and the proceeds to be divided between the three children effectively breaking with the legacy of Linwood remaining in the family. The only caveat would be if his death were due to unnatural causes then Linwood Hall and the entire estate will go to the child who solves his murder. Beaten to death in his study with rumors circulating of a missing will with changes awarding everything to one child, Alan, Roger, and Caroline have not only a mission but are also suspects in the murder investigation. The deeper the three delve into solving the murder the closer they become, the more secrets they uncover the more they realize how toxic their childhood had been and to what lengths their father would go for perfection.

Although not a quick read I really enjoyed it, a slow burning, complex, dark psychological mystery set in the perfect stormy moors of a Yorkshire estate. With multiple suspects, and even more motives, Huang crafted a clever, well-written and satisfying read that I would recommend for those who enjoy unique historical mysteries with a twist.