Keeper of the Keys:a novel by Perri o'Shaugnessy

A Radical Departure from the Nina Reilly series***

Fans of Perri O'Shaugnessy picking up this novel looking for another encounter with Nina Reilly are bound to be a little disappointed. This is a totally different novel. Frankly the last Nina Reilly novels were a bit on the weak side so the sisters were wise to try their hand(s) at something new.

The keys of the title belong to Ray, an architect who had a troubled childhood and was moved from house to house by his mother, never staying long anywhere. Ray kept a key from each house and in his spare-time constructs models of each house he lived in.

Leah, Ray's wife, is bored with her marriage and having an affair with Ray's partner. Early in the novel Ray and Leah have a heated argument and Leah subsequently disappears. Suspicion qickly emerges that Ray has killed his wife. Leah's father and her old friend Kat come calling but Ray pleads ignorance of her whereabouts.

Eventually Leah is located. The real plot comes to a crunch when Ray discovers why his mother moved houses so often and what is hidden in her basement.