"The Midnight Feast" by Lucy Foley

An audio book Multi-PoV. Multi-reader.

One time-line is the day before the summer solstice, another is the day after - 2025. The Manor, on the Dorset coast, has been opened on summer solstice by the owner Francesca (whose new husband is Owen). It's a posh hotel with extras. Michelle is the manager. Some of the locals resent it, complaining about rambling access, and access to a beach. Francesca thinks that the nearby Seaview farm is a smelly eyesore.

Bella (real name Alison), a drunk mother, visits. For some reason she hates Francesca. She wants closure. She doesn't want to be alone. She chats up Eddie, a young barman whose father owns the farm. He hasn't told his parents where he works, or The Manor about where he lives.

Bella goes to a cave to recover her diary/journal from 15 years before. We learn about her holiday then, when she and Francesca were friends (she's flat-chested, Francesca's rich, local but not pretty). She watches Owen emerge naked from the sea. Later, Eddie sees Bella sneaking around private parts of the Manor. Owen and Fran haven't long been married. He's put a tracking app on Fran's phone.

Michelle used to work in the chippy. She knows that Owen, now a prize-winning architect, used to be awkward and came from a poor local family. Girls used to feel sorry for him. He doesn't want his past to be exposed. She saw him with fire-making equipment on the day that the pub was burnt down.

Back in 2010 Alison had seen a girl, Cora, with Lord Meadows. She'd told Fran. Eddie had later found him dead.

Fran recognises Bella and invites her for a chat.

On the day before Solstice there was blood in the wood. Bella and Eddie saw 12 black-hooded, beak-faced figures with feathered staffs and a bag containing the remains of a bull.

On solstice eve Fran on CCTV sees Owen and Michelle having sex. She's calm about it - she needs both of them for the big launch.

In 2010, Fran made people think that the local myth about birds was true. She made fun of Alison then because she was going out with a local, Jake. In 2025 Eddie finds a bird costume among his dad's stuff and gets rid of it. There's a Hitchcock moment at the Manor when birds flock - someone has spread birdseed.

Bella realises that Jake and Eddie are brothers. She shares her old diary with Eddie. Someone drugs the drink on solstice night. Things get wild. The Manor catches fire. 2 die. Eddie saves many people.

In 2010 Cora was given poisonous mushrooms by Fran (who'd thought they were magic). Cora dies. Fran tries to pin the blame on Alison and Jake. Alison and Jake are paid £3k to keep quiet. Fran's grandad deals with the body. In 2025 Bella gets builders to dig where she thinks a body has been buried.

In 2010 Jake turned to drugs, stealing from his family. He had to leave the village.

Bella tells Fran that she wrecked her life. She threatens to expose Fran, orders her to leave. She drives away (having set The Manor alight first?). Eddie scares her in a bird suit and she dies in an accident.

Owen's mother was Cora (she had him when she was 16)! The detective is Jake! He specialises in cold cases. He'd sent Bella info to make her curious. The bird costume belonged to Eddie's mother, not his father!

2 months later, Owen has inherited everything. Alison (who wants to start a new life) and Jake (who has already started one) are friends.

I think it would be harder to keep secrets about identities in a village than the novel suggests, and Fran's cold calculation doesn't convince, but maybe that lack of realism is worthwhile so that there can be a sequence of surprises at the end. It's a page-turner.

Other reviews

• crimefictioncritic (Foley puts the reader in the heads of many of the characters of this book, so we learn who they are and what they are like first hand, as well as from the opinions of the other narrators. This multiple narrator approach made it a challenge to identity the protagonist of the book, but there was never any doubt about the identity of the antagonist, although it wasn’t until near the end when the reader learns just how villainous the person is.)
• themelodramaticbookworm (The writing itself is clunky and unclear. More often than not, it feels like a jigsaw puzzle that has been pieced wrong, and that is the exact opposite of what a mystery/thriller is supposed to feel like. Even though some of the threads that connect the characters are well-done, it is overshadowed by the fact that there are way too many details and characters who just make the story feel crowded without helping it in any way. ... And no matter what, it doesn’t quite manage to capture the thrill that is required of a plot like this. Everything feels contrived, like a hastily put together mish-mash of things that are expected in a mystery/thriller that has death in it.)