Murder in retrograde

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This article was published 20/07/2024 (743 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Is human experience the result of chance, fate, or free will? Astrology tries to point toward celestial influences on our lives. Opinions, and results, vary.

Whether New York lawyer and writer Carinn Jade’s use of astrology is sincere or a kind of MacGuffin, a Holy Grail or Golden Fleece will depend on the reader. Belief in the influence of the stars is not necessary to appreciate this slowly developing, and finally emotionally explosive, first novel.

Besides being a pun on “house” as an astrological category, the title refers to the novel’s setting, the Stars Harbor Astrological Retreat. The retreat schedule follows a teaser opening description of the climactic scene: “The chaos of the storm cannot outpace the fury convening at this spot. Here, the people will do more damage than the weather… The moment that drove one of them to murder.”

Was murder fated, or arranged? What, exactly, constitutes murder?

The lives of eight retreat attendees and the proprietor of Stars Harbor intertwine and reveal more and more startling connections as the retreat progresses toward that culminating scene.

Jade, also a co-host of the Pop Fiction Women podcast, introduces each character with an “Astro Cheat Sheet.” Some of these people are seeking direction from astrology, some dismiss it, but their friendships and intertwining pasts gradually become more and more personal as the story unfolds.

Margo, a lawyer, her husband Ted, an investment banker, her brother Adam, a romance novelist, his wife Aimee, a social media influencer, her best friend Farah, an ObGyn, her husband Joe, a state senator, Eden, a jewelry designer and her husband Rick, also an investment banker, are paying $1,000 a night for camaraderie, relaxation, prognostication, direction and whatever else hangs in the stars, according to astrologer/organizer Rini — Serena.

Chapters alternate between different characters’ points of view. This slows down the general exposition, as each person focuses on his or her own life. But the complex revelations and interactions become more and more tightly fraught, especially as the reader looks for clues to the eventual murderer and the victim (or victims).

Along the way, Jade touches thoughtfully on different aspects of modern culture.

Farah’s description of a conversation with a woman trying desperately to conceive, and one who stoutly resists parenthood, balances cultural and biological imperatives and deftly juggles diverse approaches to the demands of womanhood.

Farah eventually escapes the conflict by announcing, “I’m off to find some of the fathers on this trip, to hear how drastically their lives changed after having kids.”

Romance novels, we find, “include characters across the spectrum of sexuality… but their relationships remain very traditional,” writes Jade. One couple’s town, a character notes, “is incredibly progressive in its thinking, yet inside our homes, it’s like a 1955 sitcom.”

Such frank admissions of dichotomies between ideas and behaviour, between identities and expectations, are thought provoking, and readers’ sympathies with particular characters or positions will influence how they receive the different perspectives these people talk about so openly, in both dialogue and narration.

Eventually, for some astrology skeptics, the influence of the constellations, synastry, nodes and rising signs may seem like metaphors, stand-ins for peoples’ lived experiences and choices. Do we always understand our own motivations, whether as celestial fate or the result of complicated personal choices?

One need not accept, or even understand, astrology to enjoy The Astrology House. Those who do may well find it even more challenging and enjoyable.

Bill Rambo is a retired teacher who relishes the vagaries of life and relationships, and delights in the challenge of negotiating their existence.