Death at Greenway

A Novel

by Lori Rader-Day
Moira Quirk

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From the award-winning author of The Day I Died and The Lucky One, a captivating suspense novel about nurses during World War II who come to Agatha Christie's holiday estate to care for evacuated children, but when a body is discovered nearby, the idyllic setting becomes host to a deadly mystery.

Bridey Kelly has come to Greenway House—the beloved holiday home of Agatha Christie—in disgrace. A terrible mistake at St. Prisca's Hospital in London has led to her dismissal as a nurse trainee, and her only chance for redemption is a position in the countryside caring for children evacuated to safety from the Blitz.

Greenway is a beautiful home full of riddles: wondrous curios not to be touched, restrictions on rooms not to be entered, and a generous library, filled with books about murder. The biggest mystery might be the other nurse, Gigi, who is like no one Bridey has ever met. Chasing ten young children through the winding paths of the estate grounds might have soothed Bridey's anxieties and grief—if Greenway were not situated so near the English Channel and the rising aggressions of the war.

When a body washes ashore near the estate, Bridey is horrified to realize this is not a victim of war, but of a brutal killing. As the local villagers look among themselves, Bridey and Gigi discover they each harbor dangerous secrets about what has led them to Greenway. With a mystery writer's home as their unsettling backdrop, the young women must unravel the truth before their safe haven becomes a place of death . . .

Creators
- Lori Rader-Day
  
  Author
- Moira Quirk
  
  Narrator
Publisher

HarperCollins

Edition: Unabridged
Release date

October 12, 2021
Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
  - ISBN: 9780063096875
  - File size: 350728 KB
  - Duration: 12:10:40
Languages
- English
Reviews
- Publisher's Weekly
  
  Starred review from August 23, 2021
  In 1941, trainee nurse Bridget Kelly, the heroine of this richly nuanced mystery from Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Rader-Day (The Lucky One), is mourning the bombing deaths of her mother and siblings when she makes a medication dosing mistake that kills a man. Her supervisor assigns her to care for children being evacuated from London and promises that if she does well, her training can resume. With 10 infants and toddlers and a fellow nurse who says her name is also Bridget Kelly but goes by Gigi, Bridget travels to Greenway, the Devon holiday home of author Agatha Christie, which is empty except for staff while Christie and her husband do war work. Gigi is unreliable and faints at the sight of blood, but her effervescence helps lighten Bridget’s sadness and self-doubt. When a strangled corpse is found in a nearby river, Bridget recognizes it as a man whom she discovered wandering in Greenway’s garden one morning. Soon afterward, Gigi disappears. Through multiple viewpoints, Rader-Day nicely evokes the isolation and dislocations of people in WWII Britain while revealing her characters’ complexities. Despite the many allusions to Christie’s life and work, she eschews an artificially neat conclusion. Fans of both Christie and Rader-Day will relish this. Agent: Sharon Bowers, Folio Literary.
- Booklist
  
  September 15, 2021
  In Blitz-torn London, Bridey Kelly's standing as a nurse trainee is in jeopardy after she makes a disastrous mistake. She attempts to restore her supervisor's favor by agreeing to care for a group of children fleeing the city's constant bombings. Greenway, the evacuees' bucolic Devon rental, is owned by renowned mystery author Agatha Christie, a fitting detail considering the foreboding that Bridey has determinedly ignored since she boarded the train. Her secretive fellow nurse, Gigi, seems oddly familiar with a mysterious trio who have followed them from the London station to Greenway. When one of the three is killed, Bridey recognizes signs of strangling and only then learns of several other recent deaths that the village's new doctor has written off to natural causes. Ever the sharp-eyed survivor, Bridey suspects that the deaths are tied to Gigi's past and the rumors of a possible Nazi fifth column in the village. Rader-Day, known for masterfully weaving historical elements into her female-focused literary thrillers, imbues this wartime whodunit with palpable emotion as Bridey reconciles her family's bombing deaths through a plan to save another life.
  COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- Library Journal
  
  October 15, 2021
  Agatha Christie would be pleased with Rader-Day's sixth novel (after The Lucky One), which takes place during World War II. Bridey Kelly, a trainee nurse who suffered a tragedy during the Blitz, has been assigned to assist in the evacuation and care of 10 children under the age of five, including two infants. Mr. and Mrs. Arbuthnot have rented Greenway, the house in the country that belongs to Mrs. Mallowan (better known as Agatha Christie), to house the evacuees. Bridey is joined by a second nurse who possesses neither skills nor a sense of responsibility. The two care for the children, navigate resentful townspeople, and try to decipher the role of the house servants. A drowning, unexplained deaths, missing pots of jam, possible espionage, and the specter of a frightening local legend wrap around the story of difficulties and fears in wartime Britain. While Agatha Christie makes very few appearances, her ownership of the house looms large. VERDICT This is an intriguing mystery with well-developed characters and fascinating historical details. For fans of Charles Todd and Jacqueline Winspear.
  
  Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- Library Journal
  
  January 1, 2022
  In the vein of the classic British mystery, Rader-Day (The Black Hour) has created a remarkable tale set in World War II Britain. Bridget "Bridey" Kelly, a trainee nurse in London, has lost her family, and now due to a critical error, has lost her chance to be a nurse. She takes the only opportunity available--being a nurse to a group of 10 evacuee children who will be sheltered at Greenway, Agatha Christie's holiday home in the south of England. If anyone finds out that she isn't a fully trained nurse, all will be lost, Bridey knows. But Bridey's secret is only one of many among their little evacuee group. And when a body is found nearby, Bridey realizes they all are in danger from more than just the air raids. The narrative alternates between different characters' perspectives, adding layers of intrigue. Exceptional narrator Moira Quirk seamlessly transitions between characters and accents, bringing the evocative writing to life. VERDICT A story to remember and ponder. Will be popular with fans of Charles Todd and Kate Atkinson.--Donna Bachowski
  
  Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- Good Reading Magazine
  
  This is a ripping yarn with a plot that keeps twisting and turning. The story is based on the little-known fact that 10 young children were evacuated to Agatha Christie’s country estate during World War II. From here, Lori Rader-Day’s full imagination truly takes flight giving us a very evocative picture of wartime England. This gripping crime novel follows the story of Bridey Kelly, a young trainee nurse who flees her London position in disgrace, to take up a role caring for 10 children. Greenway, the country retreat, where she hopes to redeem herself, however, is not the safe haven our young heroine imagined. Being a short distance from the English Channel, they are still subject to frequent air raids as well as other wartime activity. But there is more than the war going on in this part of the country.There is mystery and murder and it’s not just found in Agatha Christie’s books that fill Greenway’s library.There is the haunting story of the scary Wistman and his hellhounds, who is said to live in the estate’s woods and who is seen by one of the children. Death at Greenway is filled with a host of interesting characters and you can’t help being absorbed into their lives.Alongside Bridey, there is the beautiful Gigi, the second nurse hired to work with her, who is obviously hiding her own secrets. When a body washes ashore, Bridey is horrified to realise the man has been brutally murdered. This captivating and atmospheric novel delivers right up until the last page. A great read. Reviewed by Karen Williams
- BookPage
  
  Straddling the line between suspense and historical fiction, Lori Rader-Day’s Death at Greenway is an unsettling murder mystery that gives readers a nuanced look into life on the British homefront during World War II. Student nurse Bridget “Bridey” Kelly made a horrible mistake on duty, resulting in the death of an officer in her care. Her only hope for redemption is to take an assignment caring for 10 children who are being evacuated from London and sent to Greenway House, the country home of Agatha Christie. Christie makes only the briefest of appearances, although her library of books on murder makes for a chilling backdrop. Like the children, Bridey experiences the effects of PTSD, so she struggles to care for them, especially when her fellow nurse, Gigi, proves to be less than enthusiastic (or knowledgeable). From the moment they settle into Greenway House, things feel amiss. Items go missing, and one of the children reports seeing a man lurking outside at night. After a body washes up in the quay, Bridey is asked to help and realizes the victim’s injuries were the result of homicide, not accidental drowning. All the while, the mysterious Gigi’s stories of her life before Greenway House fail to add up. When she goes missing, Bridey knows something foul is afoot. Told from multiple perspectives (even those of individual children), Rader-Day’s novel is in many ways a portrait of grief and trauma. Each character is suffering due to displacement, rationing and German bombings. There are no real monsters, just people forced into circumstances they never thought possible. Bridey is a particularly compelling character—the reluctant detective, longing to move on with her life, but unable to let sleeping dogs lie. Far from a cozy mystery, Death at Greenway is as taut as a bow string, with every character capable of snapping at a moment’s notice.