The Fool's Truth by Loretta Marion of Bristol is a mystery/thriller with a touch of romance. When Cordelia flees her abusive husband, taking her toddler daughter with her, she is aided by old friend (maybe more?) Ramon Alvarez. But her trip north is interrupted in Murphy, Maine, where she has car trouble. This is one of those books where you don't want to give too much away. All of the characters have a touch of mystery or hidden pasts, except the sleazy English tabloid journalist, now the editor of the Murphy newspaper, who is just what he seems.

Each chapter is introduced with an apropos quote from the teachings of Buddha, Sherlock Holmes stories, Shakespeare or authors commenting on journalism. The plot clips right along and you're not quite sure what will happen next. It's a very enjoyable read.

"Murder and mystery with shimmers of romance are all the delectable things that Loretta H. Marion has to offer with her tantalizing tale The Fool’s Truth. We are introduced to our protagonist, Cordelia Richmond through a first-person perspective on this tale. She is calling an old friend: someone to whom she trusts her very life. She’s been locked in a dangerous situation and her maternal instincts are telling her to run. And run she does. Cordelia is fleeing an unsatisfactory marriage to a man of impressive power while trying to retain her sense of self. It is during her flight that our sweet Cordelia becomes wrapped up in a devastating mystery through what many would consider coincidence. Given the spiritual aspect of our protagonist one can only pause and recall: ‘there is no coincidence, there is only fate’. For all the colorful experiences Cordelia has accrued in her lifetime, nothing could quite prepare her for what was to come.

Fragmented into small chapters that focus on one character at a time, The Fool’s Truth is eloquently written and carefully plotted out. As is the case with many mysteries if the author doesn’t know where they want the story to go, you’ll end up with a hot mess. Marion leads her readers through many twists and false starts to bring them to the satisfying end of their journey. Even the first chapter of the book is almost a ruse; meant to cause the reader to picture and assume something entirely false. It’s important to note that Marion does wrap up all her threads by the end of the tale.

A drawback from being written so fragmentedly is that the chapters concerning Cordelia are written in the first person. This can throw the reader off if they are expecting a third-person view like the rest of the book. However, while this may be off-putting, it does not detract from the story itself. It does its job to cement Cordelia as the main character of this novel, though there would have been little doubt of that. For all the trouble our heroine finds herself in, this is still very much her story.

What a twisted journey it is. The characters are all intricately tied together with false identities, broken pasts and loveless marriages built on security, not affection. There are some surprising truths near the end of the book and the final part does an excellent job of wrapping everything together. In what must have been a labour of love The Fool’s Journey spans more than three hundred pages, yet every single one of them unfolds pieces of the puzzles that Marion scatters throughout the tale.

At times breath-taking and other times heart-pounding a true mystery lover will not want to let The Fool’s Truth pass them by. Even the romance aspects of the story are not overpowering and flow naturally, without taking away from the central core of the tale. The romance is a side dish to the main course of full-bodied mystery that Marion has to offer." December 2, 2016