First off let me say that this was about as good as I expected it to be. It definitely fits in the mystery genre. It's not as good as Fulmer's Jass and I don't think I could compare it to the Christie novels since they are so different.
Since I am going to discuss this with the book club, I'll list the problems I had:
- The beginning borders on "lying to the reader." She starts with a wedding, and the main character is listening to the Priest, and silly me, I naturally assumed it was her own wedding. At least there was no clue that it wasn't that I could see. Several pages later we learn that it's not her wedding, but some other unlucky soul. Of course, I felt cheated, not a good way to begin the novel.
- And speaking of beginnings, the author spent quite a bit of time in that first chapter dwelling on the death of her main characters husband, and how suspicious it was. It's a mystery novel, the reader is looking for the mystery to start, the author supplies a mystery. Can you blame me for thinking that's what the book was going to be about. Well, it wasn't. It was never mentioned again. The real beginning of the novel is when she gets the call about the dead man - that's where the novel should have begun.
- Details, details. Several times things did not strike me as true-to-life. Mystery novels deal in facts like gold, they are essential to the aura of the mystery. If the reader doubts the author at any point, they are in trouble.
- Why didn't the interpretive ranger call the cops when she found the body at the start of the novel? Instead she paged her boss, and it was at least an hour later before any cops were called. Negligent. An ambulance should have been called first, then the cops, then her boss. Unbelievable.
- The good-old boys chasing the main character in the dark. As a veteran night orienteer, it was not believable. I suppose it would satisfy those who had never set foot in the woods after dark.
- You don't use a lathe to make a child's coffin. Lathes are used to turn objects like table legs, wooden bowls, staircase uprights, etc.
- You can't kill someone by squashing their car with a pickup truck. It takes a lot more force than can be delivered by a truck with tires to squash a car. There are a lot simpler ways to kill, and why use a difficult way when a simple way will do?
- Style - she uses a style that is not smooth, especially in the dialog sections. She seems intent on showing off her skills at finding alternate words and action verbs - to the point of distraction. She has overdone it.
As far as the mystery goes, there wasn't much of one. The red herrings didn't fool me. Eliminate the red herrings and the only other character with pages devoted to him was the bad guy. Not hard to figure out at all.
Characterization is OK except for the major character. I suppose that may be taken care of in earlier books in the series, but this book is supposed to stand alone. It does suffer from being one in a long running series. Many times the author alludes to things that have happened in previous books that a reader of only this book would find confusing.
One thing I did enjoy was the mildness of the crime. The death at the heart of it all turned out to be accidental. There were no blood and guts scenes. No sex scenes. Motive was simply hatred of women superiors and protection of retirement. Enough to kill for? Not really, I guess, but it was a refreshing change from some of the more gruesome genre novels around.
Will I read more from her? Probably not. Too many books, too little time.
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