“The Trust” by Ronald H. Balson – Rotten Family Tree

 

Ronald H. Balson has dragged Liam Taggart through a number of sordid cases, but none hit as close to home as the one he is faced with in The Trust. In this fourth novel of the Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart series, the private investigator returns to his childhood home upon his uncle's passing, only to learn the man predicted his own murder and decreed in his last will to postpone the distribution of the inheritance until the killer is found.

Ronald H. Balson Creates a Personal Case

The life of a private investigator involved in one stomach-turning case after another would break a lot of people in the real world, but thankfully, in the world of literature our characters are a little more resilient. Generally, they have the benefit of being able to detach themselves from the crimes at hand, but things aren't so in The Trust by Ronald H. Balson.

This book marks the fourth entry in the Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart series, and while they do have a continuous plot, it largely revolves around the relationship between the two titular characters. The mysteries themselves work perfectly well as standalone works and require no previous familiarity with the series.

Back to the plot of the novel, it separates Liam and Catherine by thousands of miles when the former is forced to return to his home in Northern Ireland upon the passing of his uncle. He has little desire to return after having left his family following a regrettable confrontation years ago, but it's a duty he cannot ignore.

Upon his arrival, he finds the situation to be a whole lot stranger and more uncomfortable than anticipated. As it turns out, his uncle was not only shot, but predicted his own murder in his last will, naturally omitting to name the killer. He also included the stipulation for the inheritance not to be awarded until the murderer is brought to justice.

Being the experienced and talented private investigator he is, Liam Taggart sees no choice but to solve the mystery by his own means, all while consulting with his wife from the hotel. The list of suspects seemingly has no end, from old IRA connections to any of the other family members, but Liam must hurry when it becomes clear someone is intent on picking off the inheritors one by one.

Roller-coaster of Deceit in The Trust

The best mystery novels are always the ones capable of misleading the reader while making them believe they are following the correct logical path. Naturally, the way it's accomplished also matters a fair bit, but when an author is capable of pulling the rug out from under you time and time again while pointing to clever details you've missed, I'd say he or she is giving the reader one of the best possible experiences.

In my opinion, considering this novel as well as the previous books, I would say Ronald H. Balson certainly has the capabilities to be this sort of author. Naturally, he doesn't successfully pull it off one hundred percent of the time (there is indeed a point where I believe it becomes a little obvious who the culprit is), but he certainly gets as close to it as humanly possible.

The set-up for the mystery is perfect in the sense we get a fairly clear list of suspects and an intriguing catalyst in the form of the dead uncle predicting his own demise. I think it's hard to resist trying to figure out the truth from the moment we're introduced to those people, and I found myself also playing the role of investigator, attempting to discern the small details carrying big revelations.

While in some regards I did indeed find my deductions to have been correct, they never came about without a good bit of effort and attentive reading. Additionally, more often than not Balson did manage to surprise me, and it always felt like my fault for having overlooked a piece of information. You are given everything you need to make the proper conclusions; the author ultimately gives a fair challenge.

As tends to be natural for murder mysteries with a tight-knit network of suspects, a thick web of deceit is spun from the beginning and only grows more complex as we approach the end of the story. Ronald H. Balson manages to actually keep it relatively clear and easy enough to follow, to the point where I was able to keep track of who made which claims, something surprisingly few authors can manage.

Woes of an Irish Family

As great of a whodunit mystery The Trust might be, I think there are some additional elements which are worth having a look at, the first one being the author's decision to place a bit of focus on Northern Ireland itself and its history.

Naturally, he doesn't have the time to give us an in-depth historical excursion into the country and its storied past, nor do I suspect most of the book's readers have a desire to see it (there are other sources for that). However, he does dedicate small passages to exposing various interesting tidbits and details, the kind which tend to be retained fairly easily. They don't necessarily always relate to the case at hand, but they are welcome additions nonetheless.

I think the most noteworthy element in this novel, besides the investigation itself, is Balson's depiction of the rather extensive Taggart family and its troublesome roots. He uses its various members to explore the realities of both past and present Northern Ireland, each one of them bringing something of their own to the table.

They all have their distinct personalities, are easy to remember, and few stand out from the rest as obvious suspects. They aren't simply cardboard cutouts serving as pawns in the story, but individuals with their own stories to tell, and in my opinion this factor adds a lot of weight to the events of the book. In general, anything is more impactful when it happens to a character who feels real.

The relationship between Liam and Catherine is also given some attention, and the scenes where he calls her from his hotel and discusses the case were always pleasurable moments of guaranteed respite. Naturally, it is given less attention than in previous books (due to the distance separating them), but still remains and adds a bit of warmth to a very cold case.

The Final Verdict

The Trust by Ronald H. Balson is a superb addition to the Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart series, sending the former on a very personal investigation filled with intelligent twists and compelling characters with their own memorable features.

If you're looking for a solid murder mystery which respects the reader and challenges them in a fair and engaging way, then I'm certain you'll have a lot of pleasure reading this book, as well as the other ones in the series.

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Ronald H. Balson  Ronald H. Balson primarily considers himself as an attorney with the firm Stone, Pogrund and Korey, operating in the Chicago area. His many cases have taken him across the U.S. as well as on the international scene, and he even became an author when he wrote his widely-acclaimed book, Once We Were Brothers.