By: P.M.A Hayes
Thank you NetGalley and Cranthorpe Millner Publishers for the ARC of this book.
Investigator Benedict Aberthorp gets a phone call from Aldo, husband to Francine, and is asked to find Francine’s killer. At this point, Aldo is the main suspect. There was a brown coat left at the scene of the murder, a brown coat like Aldo’s. When the police ask Aldo to produce his coat, he is unable to. Benedict agrees to help, and as he begins interviewing those that knew Francine, he realizes everyone has a secret and he needs to know what they are to figure out who killed Francine.
This book has a lot of potential, but for me, missed the mark. While the author did a good job of making everyone a suspect, there was too many layers and too many secrets that it became convoluted, and the writing became choppy. For me, I like a real page turner, and this was not that; it read slow, and it did not flow well. The author also chose to have this take place in 2024, and I’m not sure the reason. However, because of that, some of the things in the book seemed like it took place ages ago. For instance, why didn’t anyone look anything up on the internet? Why are people using a telephone directory? Also, while I realize this didn’t take place in the United States, it irked me that there wasn’t much talk of police, just a small mention in the beginning and maybe once in the middle and then towards the end. Also, if someone is a prime suspect, why do they not have a lawyer? Overall, I liked that I couldn’t figure out the killer, but I probably would not read another in this series.
This book will be available on December 13. You can find it here if you’d like to check it out.
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