Great mystery, interesting execution
By StephieEss
Interesting mystery and set-up. For the side characters to be introduced with background before the main characters (the detectives) was pretty innovative. I had a hard time putting it down as I had to know whodunnit!
That being said, there was a lot of repetition and redundancy [especially in adjectives] that had me wondering if I was accidentally re-reading a chapter! There are a plethora of words out there other than handsome, romantic, dark, dangerous, et.al. It takes one out of the story. Feels like filler when there needn’t be.
Some spacing issues and punctuation errors made for a difficult read. For the former, several lines of dialogue, in quotation marks, will be mashed into one paragraph, making it very difficult for the reader to decipher who is speaking. For the latter, it was the quotation marks in wrong places.
There was no scene transition within chapters. The author should start a new chapter or use a visible break such as ***** or some design as an indication. Example: In chapter 32, a character at the police station has a line of dialogue and the very next paragraph begins with a line of dialogue, with a different character, across town ay the radio station! Again, confusing to the reader.
*Potential Spoilers*
I found it strange the the medical examiner wouldn’t what the murder weapon was, nor attempted to find out. That a detective would have a “aha” moment to figure it out rather far into the story.
Father John mentioned a “mentor” for it to never be mentioned again.
The last scene with Estelle implied there was something wrong with her drink, i.e. poisoned. Was she poisoned or did she commit suicide? With the entire rash of crimes revolving around Annie’s murder, why wouldn’t any death during this period be investigated? If she committed suicide, why drop hints that she was poisoned?
Not sure if it’s an anachronism, but a character worrying about long-distance charges had me wondering in what year this story was set.