Death Comes To Marlow

Starting to feel restless, I knew that a nice, feel good, comfy murder was exactly what was needed. So, after a little hesitation, I decided it was time to reunite with my favourite trio of sleuths in the (not so quiet) town of Marlow. 

Everything about this book was brilliant. From the plot (including the side plots) to the characterisation and dialogue.

The locked room element was intriguing and cleverly crafted. At a first glance, the set up seemed impossible, which only made the challenge of solving it even more irresistible. Sufficient clues (as well as a couple of red herrings) had been scattered throughout the narrative to help figure out whodunnit and more importantly, how. 

I appreciated that there was a vast array of suspects, all with their own supposed motives and somewhat suspicious alibis to sift through. Interestingly enough, I was able to work out who the culprit was, however was completely flummoxed on how it had been pulled off. The method of murder was a little on the complex side, making it perhaps slightly implausible. This did nothing to dampen the enjoyment but rather left me in wonder at the method itself.  

“And yet she knew from her years of setting crosswords, sometimes the solution – improbable though it first appeared – was nonetheless correct.” 

Judith, Beck and Suzie’s friendship had been nicely depicted; all three women were portrayed to be brilliant and resourceful in their own way; as individuals, they all brought something to the table. It was also nice to see Tanika’s amusing reactions to the trio’s various shenanigans as well as her thoughts of the murder. 

A good splash of humour and wit was also present throughout the narrative. The pacing along with the uncovering of the new information that could potentially be clues, was perfect. The three different subplots, each pertaining to one of the trio, had been expertly woven within the main mystery arc; not once did it feel as If any of these were slowing the pace of the mystery down or that they were meaningless tangents. The crossword clues within Judith’s subplot were especially interesting to read about. 

There was something about the setting of Marlow as well that was enjoyable. The descriptions of Marlow were not by any means lengthy but still conjured up images of the idyllic town.  

In a nutshell, this was a well plotted, well paced locked room murder mystery. It was delightful, light hearted whodunnit that had been brilliantly crafted. A definite recommendation. 

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

Another chance to solve an intricate, immersive and indulging mystery was a chance I was hardly willing to give up. Wrapping up in a cosy blanket and grabbing myself a hot chocolate, I sat down and began to solve the mysterious case of the Alperton Angels. 

Once again, the clues left my mind spinning, as I tried to piece together the puzzle of the Alperton Angels. Attention to detail was crucial and it definitely did not hurt to have a notepad nearby to help keep track of who was who and what they had disclosed as part of the investigation. 

The various forms of communications such as transcripts, emails, text messages and book extracts just made this mystery more enjoyable to solve. Different theories kept spinning in my mind, often reworking themselves as more pieces of the puzzles were unearthed. Enough clues had been given to work out what had happened before the ending was fully revealed. Without a doubt, this was a book that had been so cleverly plotted and executed. 

The plot did waver in some places and took some tangents along the way. More often than not, patience was required whilst reading these bits. Most of the plot had been tied up, yet there were still a couple of minor points that had not been fully addressed or answered. 

It was surprising, that despite the type of story and format, it was easy to get a sense of Amanda as a protagonist. In parts, she had been fleshed out quite a bit considering the genre of the story. Oliver, was another character, that had been somewhat fleshed out. Within the overall mystery arc, there was also the question of what had happened between Amanda and Oliver; little hints had been dropped throughout the correspondence. 

In a nutshell, this was an enjoyable puzzle to put together and figure out with all the clues presented. It had been cleverly written, with some fleshing out of the main protagonist. The plot did lag a little at some points and some points were left unaddressed. However, this was a delightful read. 

Happy Solving,

Saz

P.S. Yesterday I got hit on the head with a jigsaw. I’m going to piece the evidence together until I find who it was 😉

Murder on the Christmas Express

A cosy murder mystery that takes place on a train in the midst of snow; there was no chance that I could have possibly resisted this. However, after reading it, I do wish I had resisted it or at least been foretold not to get my expectations too high. 

For nearly the whole of the first half, the characters were being introduced and the scene was being set. This made for a slower pace than what I would have liked. Even though the pace did pick up, there was too much crammed in to the narrative; on one hand, solving a murder mystery and on the other, discussing traumatic events that centred around abuse against women. It became confusing to figure out which direction the narrative was going in. In essence, there was too much going on, resulting in a lack of time and space given for these topics to be explored adequately and with proper sensitivity.

Related to that, the book was not marketed well at all, which in itself was problematic. Depicted as a cosy murder mystery, it failed to mention any trigger warnings or  any of the serious topics that it covered. On top of that, there were a handful of editing errors throughout the pages. 

Going back to the actual story, there was not a single likeable character; there was nothing to them in terms of personality and they fell rather flat. Roz was constantly torn with her indecisiveness to help out, which made her a frustrating detective. The rest of the cast were quite frankly forgettable and shallow. This obviously dampened the reading experience as not a single connection could be made with any character. In short, they all fell flat. Time that should have been spent fleshing them out, was instead used to provide repetitive, meaningless, mind numbing descriptions. 

Whilst the ending was neatly tied up and in some ways a little unpredictable, there was still something missing.

To put it shortly,  this was a disappointing read. Whilst I can appreciate trauma being written about, it felt that this had been shoehorned in without much thought. The narrative was trying to go in too many different directions which ended up being confusing. The plot centred around the murder was lacking and lost focus throughout the narrative. 

Saz