I am a huge fan of Patricia Donovan’s novels, particularly The Remarkable Miss Digby, which in 2022 was shortlisted for a NZ Booklovers Award. As well as this historical novel, she has also written thriller and dystopian novels, and her latest book, Rita Vegas, is an edgy crime novel.
Rita Vegas is the central character in this page-turning novel that explores two murders five years apart. In the first murder, a woman is found dead in central Wellington, where Rita has only recently started working. She didn’t know the woman, but compromising material found in her handbag causes her to begin investigating the crime, putting herself at grave risk.
Five years on, she is spending time out from corporate life at the Serenity Centre in Cambodia, but she finds it anything but serene. Everyone seems to have secrets, and when a body is discovered, Rita finds herself thinking of the dead body from five years ago as she begins investigating this new case. She is convinced it is not suicide, but something much more sinister.
Patricia Donovan knows how to write a tense novel, and in Rita Vegas, she has constructed a thought-provoking thriller that explores memory and emotional triggers while examining the human condition and what drives us. This is an elegantly written novel full of intrigue.
Reviewer: Karen McMillan
Mary Egan Publishing