Audiobook Review: The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (January 9, 2024)

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Author Information: Website

Narrators: Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, Patti Murin

Oh wow! So many layers, so many secrets, so many twists! The Heiress is my third book by Rachel Hawkins but it may already be my favorite. This novel is so complex and clever, and the audiobook completely absorbed me with its brilliant narrators and excellent pacing.

The story follows a young couple, Camden and Jules, who live an average, modest life near the mountains of Colorado. He is a teacher, and she a reenactor in a historical theme park, but the truth is, Camden is actually the adopted son of a wealthy heiress named Ruby McTavish—and when it comes to old money, her family is the oldest there is, having practically built the North Carolina town where the famous Ashby House stands. After Ruby died, her entire estate went to Camden, but for some reason, he wanted nothing to do with the money. Meanwhile, the surviving McTavishes including Ruby’s sister and her descendants seethed at this turn of events, seeing Camden as the outsider who simply chanced upon his inheritance. But while they were allowed to remain in Ashby House, as stated in Ruby’s will, Camden himself decided to move out and never look back, wanting nothing to do with the family ever again.

Then one day, Camden receives word from his cousin Ben, reaching out to him about the death of his Uncle Howell and the sorry state of Ashby House which requires extensive repairs. After much deliberating, and with some words of support from his wife, Camden finally decides to make the trip back to North Carolina to take care of business, as loathe as he is to return to his childhood home. In contrast though, Jules is excited to finally learn more about her husband’s past, which he has always been tight-lipped about, and also can’t wait to finally see Ashby House, the site of so much tragedy and scandal involving Camden’s adoptive mother.

At just three years old, a young Ruby made headlines in the early 1940s when she became lost in the nearby woods. Everyone believed the girl to have perished, but her family never gave up looking, and after nearly a year, they received the miracle they’d been hoping for—their daughter found alive and well, living with a family who had taken her and kept her all this time. And yet this was far from the end of the drama surrounding Ruby McTavish. As an adult, she became the subject of many news reports and rumors after a string of marriages ended with all her husbands meeting untimely ends. Might she just be the world’s unluckiest woman in love? Or was there more to the story of how her four husbands died?

The Heiress is a story told through multiple viewpoints, with one main narrative that takes place in the present, while a secondary plotline is revealed in the form of correspondence written by Ruby McTavish to an unnamed recipient in the days before she was found dead. So, while the novel may feature themes of family drama like so many other mysteries and thrillers, in fact it is in no way typical; the way the story is structured means readers get to enjoy this slowly unraveling web of secrets as, layer by layer, answers are revealed in an experience that goes beyond the usual conventions of the genre.

Here, the characters are also the main event. When the book opens, Ruby McTavish has already been dead for around a decade, but her presence is felt both in the boldness of her voice in the letters she leaves behind (which her narrator portrayed perfectly) as well as the weight of her legacy in the current timeline. Getting the details about her tumultuous relationships from Ruby herself, readers get to find out what really happened to her husbands and learn if there is any truth behind her nickname, “Mrs. Kill-More.” And in the alternating chapters featuring Cam and Jules, contrasting motives are presented for dealing with Ashby House and the nine-figure inheritance Ruby left behind. Both characters are sitting on bombshell secrets, leading to a number of shocking reveals in the end. The rest of the cast is filled out by the other McTavishes—from Ruby’s resentful sister Nelle to Cam’s cousins Ben and Libby, they are all rather horrible people.

Ultimately though, all the elements came together for a killer climax and the stunning revelations that follow. These final twists are evidence of Hawkin’s talent in storytelling and building intrigue, and she’s only getting better and better. Recommended highly for mystery readers and thriller fans who appreciate suspenseful, satisfying tales, The Heiress is a stellar achievement and her best work yet.