Nicci French's gripping mystery House of Correction focuses on 30-year-old curmudgeon Tabitha Hardy returning to a small seaside village where she spent a traumatic childhood. Her estranged mother has died, leaving a rundown house in need of repairs. Tabitha severely lacks social skills; working remotely as a copy editor suits her but keeps her from fitting in. She quickly becomes the local weirdo who mumbles to herself, dresses oddly and swims in the ocean in the middle of winter. This insular world is suddenly flipped upside down when she wakes up in prison charged with murder, with only a fuzzy recollection of what happened.
The residents turn on her. The murder victim was one of their own, while Tabitha is a peculiar gossip subject. Her court-appointed lawyer advises Tabitha to plead guilty to manslaughter and hope for a more lenient sentence than life in prison, but she refuses to be a victim. Unable to prove she didn't commit the murder, her only choice is to prove who did. Trusting no one else with her defense and with no comprehension of how a courtroom works, this introvert bravely chooses to represent herself.
Nicci French, pseudonym for the writing partnership of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, presents readers with an ill-tempered, potty-mouthed lead character, but that initial impression of Tabitha morphs into admiration for a woman determined to uncover the truth at all costs. Chapters are succinct, the pacing is gripping and the plot is a reminder not to judge a book by its cover. No correction is needed for this stellar whodunnit. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer