Multi-Million Dollar Inheritance Left by a Stranger Causes a Deadly Past to Resurface

Between Two Strangers by Kate White

Kate White will have you on the edge of your seat, staying up late hanging on every suspense-filled word of Between Two Strangers (Harper). You may echo my reaction upon reaching the last sentence: “Whoa, I did not see that ending coming!” This thriller grabs your attention and won’t let go.

Weaves Two Mysteries Together

Skyler Moore is the protagonist and narrator of this taut tale which weaves two seemingly disparate mysteries together. One involves a tragic death that resulted in estrangement from her family and the other is connected to a wholly unexpected large bequest from a virtual stranger.

Skyler is a freelance graphic designer and collage artist on the verge of a breakthrough. She has achieved sufficient success through her design work to afford a modest apartment in Manhattan as well as the rent on a tiny studio in an East Village building filled with other artists’ workshops. 

She is finalizing the last in a series of ten collages of varying sizes that will soon be featured in her first major gallery exhibition after a several-year hiatus from personal creativity. The advance publicity has been positive and the gallery owner has pre-sold one of the works for a considerable sum of money; quite a bonus for an emerging artist. 

Inheriting a Large Sum From a Mysterious Man

Late one Friday afternoon as she is working on the final collage for the show, Skyler receives a life-changing telephone call from an attorney named Bradley Kane; a partner in the upmarket Scarsdale law firm of Abood, Kane, Harrison and Wong that specialize in estates and trusts. 

After confirming her identity, Mr. Kane informs her one of his clients has died and left her an inheritance but declines to name the figure or any stipulations of the will until they meet in his office. He does reveal the client’s name was Christopher “CJ” Whaley, a name unfamiliar to her, suggesting that this might be either an error or a hoax but she reluctantly agrees to meet in person with the attorney. 

Days later, the floor nearly drops out from under her when she is informed this inheritance is for a whopping 3.5 million dollars. The funds are hers to use but the trust specifies if she dies childless, the remainder would revert to Mr. Whaley’s two already well-provided-for children who are currently minors.  

Skyler had not been his beloved secret mistress, contrary to the assumption the attorney, Christopher’s mother and his wife entertained in order to explain the bequest. In reality, had CJ survived the sudden onset of Stage 4 terminal pancreatic cancer, he would have initiated divorce proceedings against his serially unfaithful wife. 

After reflection, Skyler guiltily realized “CJ”, the only name she knew him by, had been a passionate one-night fling she met in a hotel managed by a friend a dozen years earlier. Though she would have welcomed a reacquaintance, she had never seen or heard from him again.

Remembering a Murder on a Fateful Weekend

Skyler Moore is suddenly plunged back into full-on harrowing nightmares of that fateful weekend when her beautiful, vivacious younger half-sister was found dead after a party they attended together. Chloe was presumed to have been attacked by an unidentified assailant, murdered and shoved over a precipitous drop into a ravine. It was situated in a dark area on the back of a twelve-acre wooded estate surrounding the magnificent home where the party took place. Chloe’s neck was broken and her blouse and telephone had gone missing. 

At the time of the ill-fated impromptu party invitation, Skyler had been a 25-year-old graduate student living at home to be able to afford to complete an MFA in painting at Boston University. Chloe was 20 and an undergraduate at Emerson about to complete her third year in Communications and Media Studies. 

Not only was she a top student, but the petite, ever professionally attired powerhouse with huge blue eyes and shoulder-length thick buttery natural blond hair appeared “assignment ready” with a prized internship lined up at a Hartford television station. Her goals were clear and she seemed to be on a path to a successful future. It was a shocking, tragic loss that left Skyler wondering if somehow she could have prevented it.

Due to a series of miscommunications, it was unclear Chloe was missing for nearly two days before a search was mounted. The girls had arrived together at the party but left separately.  Chloe was known to be headstrong, impulsive and may well have left with a good-looking man. 

The golden girl of the family was dead and their mother placed the responsibility and blame squarely on Skyler’s shoulders. She was banished from the family home, excluded from holiday dinners and aware no matter whatever conciliatory gestures her surviving half-sister Nicky might attempt, their mother fervently and obviously wishes Skyler had been the daughter killed. 

Disturbing Psychological Thriller You Can’t Miss

As Skyler works to complete her upcoming show and begins to search for the reason for the inheritance, it emerges that these two mysterious circumstances may converge in a terrifying, life-threatening fashion for this hard-working artist. 

Kate White is a well-established, New York Times bestselling author of several psychological thrillers as well as a series of eight mysteries featuring a character named Bailey Wiggins, among several other diversely themed books. Between Two Strangers is a suspenseful novel you won’t soon forget. 

You may also be considering changing your locks, leaving the lights on and checking closets for intruders, even taking similar precautions whenever you are away from home. It is original, unpredictable and one of the best thrillers I have read in many months.