Rula The Heist

On Halloween, 1980, a strange collection of people gather at a rented castle to play a very peculiar game. All are dressed in symbolic costumes, and all have been commanded not to reveal their identities to each other. After an evening of socializing, each receives an envelope containing their task for the first phase of the game.

Later that year, a brilliant magician, named McGuire Tennant, performs at a birthday party for wealthy Marybeth Chancellor. Illusion isn’t his only specialty, however; he seduces Marybeth and takes her to his bed. She spends two days in bliss, but when she returns to her suspicious husband, the consequences for her are dire.

Cut to modern-day California. Kate and Ethan Bennett, newlyweds, are looking for a new house, and Kate is looking for a job as a reporter. Though she is the daughter of wealthy and famous Jordan King, she wants to make it on her own merits, but it won’t be easy. No matter how determined she is, she has still had the world handed to her on a silver platter, and expecting things to go her way is a tough habit to break. Things do seem to be going well for her in her attempt at a new life, however. She and Ethan are perfectly happy with each other’s company, and he has a good job at a legal firm. Carmel, the town they have just settled in, is a lovely little town, and the house they have found is perfect for them. It’s eccentric, too. While looking through it on their first visit, Ethan finds a hidden compartment in a railing. It’s empty, but the fact that it’s there at all presages a mystery about the house.

And there is mystery aplenty. Though Kate and Ethan don’t know it yet, they’re about to be drawn into an ancient game, one which will bring to light information about a decades-old jewel heist and test the bonds of their marriage. The couple is now connected to McGuire Tennant and the strange people from the first few chapters, and they will be lucky if they escape with their lives.

In Rula: The Heist, Nicole Parris quickly ensnares the reader in a web of mystery. I was fascinated from the first page, and the further I read, the deeper I was drawn into the story. It’s the first in a series, and by the end, matters have only grown stranger and more complex. I can hardly wait for the next book.

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