Till death do us part . . .
Lucy has dreamt of her wedding day for as long as she can remember.
And now the day is almost here. Her nearest and dearest are gathered on an idyllic Greek island and she just knows it's going to be perfect. It has to be.
But even the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong. Why are her parents behaving so strangely? Why won't the rather odd lady from the airport stop hanging around? Who is the silent stranger her sister brought as a plus-1?
And then they find the body.
It's going to be a day to remember.
The Wedding Party by Tammy Cohen was published in paperback on 19 August 2021 by Black Swan / Transworld. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour
The Wedding Party ticks three of my must-read boxes; first and foremost, it's by Tammy Cohen, an author who I adore and who I've been reading and reviewing since her very first book. Second, it's about weddings and brides, and we all know just what can happen there, and last but certainly not least, it's set on a Greek island. I adore all things Greece, and I have spent many holidays on the island of Kefalonia, where The Wedding Party is set.
Lucy's wedding will be the wedding to top all other weddings, or so she hopes. Whilst the guest list is not huge, the venue is magnificent and no expense has been spared. Taking place in a magnificent hotel, overlooking the sparkling blue sea, just before sunset .... ideal for photo opportunities .... this will be a day to remember.
However, things rarely go as planned, do they? The guests are decidedly edgy. Lucy's parents are behaving very strangely, her rebellious sister has brought along a bloke she picked up the night before she flew out and there's a very odd woman staying at the hotel who can't seem to stop getting involved with them.
The reader knows from the start that there is a death. The intriguing prologue describes a body laying on the beach, but we don't know who it is, or how it got there.
Tammy Cohen cleverly structures this gripping tale. She tells the story through different points of view, and there's also transcripts from police interviews interwoven between the chapters. Its clever stuff, she drip feeds nuggets of information to the reader, and I certainly changed my mind many times as I tried to figure out who was dead, and why.
We are also aware of the side story about Nina the wedding planner. Nina is British, living on Kefalonia and running her wedding planner business. She lives with her husband, but things are not going well for her. The relationship is on its last legs and there are money worries to contend with, along with the threat of violence emanating from a local family that she owes money to.
There's a lot packed into this story, yet it's never complicated. The characters are well drawn, most of them are awful; self-centred, loud, devious, but all of them have hidden depths that the author cleverly and surely exposes.
This is Tammy Cohen at her best. It's sharp, well plotted and keeps the reader on their toes throughout. The perfect escapist read, I loved it.
backlist of acclaimed novels of domestic noir, including The Mistress’s Revenge, The War of the Wives and Someone Else’s Wedding.
Her break-out psychological suspense thriller was The Broken, followed by Dying for Christmas, First One Missing, When She Was Bad, They All Fall Down and Stop at Nothing.
She is also the author of Clean Break, a Quick Reads novel.
She is a member of the Killer Women crime writing collective and lives in north London with her partner and three (nearly) grown children, plus one badly behaved dog.
Chat with her on Twitter @MsTamarCohen, Instagram @tammycohenwriter or at www.tammycohen.co.uk.
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