The Heiress Review

by Rachel Hawkins

Rating: 3.5/5

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.

But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.

Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.

But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

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This was an interesting one! And it had me intrigued from the very start. And when I wasn’t reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The premise is unique. We follow a wealthy family in North Carolina, and the head of the household, Ruby, is the most notorious, a child kidnapping victim and the widow of four husbands. And when she dies, she leaves her entire fortune and estate to her adopted son. However, he wants nothing to do with it. And instead chooses to live a simple life in Colorado. Now, ten years later, he decides to return home, if only to sort the estate, which is in desperate need of repairs. But being back there among family again, the question of inheritance comes to light, along with many other secrets this family has held on to.

Being told through the perspective of Ruby’s adoptive son, Camden, his wife Jules, and letters from Ruby and new articles of the Tavistock family over the years, we’re told the story of this family. I honestly loved the letters from Ruby the most. These were my favorite parts and what I couldn’t wait to get back to whenever we weren’t reading one of her letters. I loved learning about her story and what her life was really like, and oh, the secrets she carried.

As I made my way through, I couldn’t help but want to know more. But the further I got, the less shocked I became with each secret that was uncovered. Some of them, I guessed from the start, and the others I didn’t, but even the ones I didn’t predict, they didn’t really surprise me. 

The entire first half kept me on my toes, mostly because of Ruby. Her stories kept me invested. But as her story was coming to an end and we focused more on the current timeline with Camden and the house, I felt myself getting bored. I still wanted to know how things were gonna play out, but like I said at the end, the twists just weren’t very shocking.

I still found this to be enjoyable. I was just hoping for a more shocking reveal. I think the biggest “reveal” was one I had guessed from the start, so it just made this fall a bit flat for me in the end. 

But if you enjoy mystery thrillers set around families and lots of family drama, you might enjoy this one too!