The Midnight Feast

Part 3 of The Midnight Feast, entitled After, includes the narrative’s denouement, the part of the narrative in which the final elements of the whodunit plot are resolved and explained. In this section, Foley reveals a critical twist of the plot: Detective Inspector Walker is Eddie’s long-lost brother Jake. By the author’s own admission, this aspect of the plot incorporates an element of “poetic license” (419). It is unlikely that a cold case detective from London would be sent to investigate a likely accident and arson in a small town in Dorset, but suspending disbelief allows Foley to create a satisfying and surprising resolution to Jake Walker’s narrative arc. It is also revealed in the denouement that Eddie’s mother is a member of The Birds—it was her costume Eddie donned to scare Francesca—and that Lord Meadows died of a heart attack after being scared by The Birds.

In the novel’s final scene, Foley ties together the various secondary characters she’s introduced over the course of the narrative in a final reveal, identifying them as members of The Birds. When Bella sees the vicar, the landlady, Michelle, and a few other elderly local women together at the Crow’s Nest, she immediately makes the connection. A man in The Crow’s Nest calls them “old birds” (416), evoking an informal slang term for a woman that Foley imbues with a broader resonance within the context of the narrative. Michelle, the landlady, the local Reiki healer (and, by inference, the vicar) have the same small crow tattoo, continuing Foley’s motif of the crow symbol. Ritualized folk magic is one way that otherwise marginalized women were able to support and protect their community, particularly in Medieval Europe. In carrying forward these practices into the modern era, the women of Tome access that same power to protect their community with the limited tools at their disposal.

The plot threads resolved in Foley’s denouement center on the theme of Vigilante Justice in a Local Community. The Birds, Bella, and the Walker brothers ultimately believe that pursuing vigilante justice is the only way they will be able to get any redemption for themselves or their loved ones. This belief is supported by the fact that the Meadows family’s privilege, wealth, and political power enables them to use their money and influence to avoid retribution through traditional criminal justice. However, as shown in the text, this kind of vigilante justice is not without risk and can go wrong in unexpected ways. For example, Jake Walker states: “I know the chances of bringing a charge in a case like this, 15 years later, are almost zero. Mud doesn’t stick to these sorts of people” (397). When he instigates the plan to finally achieve justice for Cora, he does so without knowing the inherent dangers involved or the likelihood of success, adding to the suspense of the narrative. As he tells Bella, “When you open up the past like this…it can have repercussions you never imagined” (398).

This pattern is repeated in Eddie’s pursuit of Francesca on the night of the solstice. Having learned the truth about Francesca and her connection to his brother, he dons his mother’s crow costume—symbolic of Tome’s history of ritual self-protection and vengeance—and frightens Francesca into running off the cliff. While he does not face criminal liability, two months later he still struggles with his feelings of guilt, highlighting Foley’s exploration of the moral ambiguity inherent in vigilante justice. He thinks to himself, “Did I mean to do it? Did I know what might happen when I put on that cloak? […] When I, Eddie Walker, became a killer?” (408)

The repercussions of The Birds’ actions carry a similar risk. Eddie’s mom says they did not intend to kill Lord Meadows by frightening him with their visits but “Who knows? Perhaps there is such a thing as being frightened to death after all” (412). When Michelle locked Hugo and Oscar in the wine store, she could not have known Francesca would start the fire that would ultimately cause their death.