Best Murder in Show

The first book I've read as a result of a review on here and I confess I was disappointed in it. Our hero is ... odd. In a number of ways not least creating murder plots in her head all the time.

And the plot for the actual murder itself is both unlikely and rushed, in that it's mentioned right and the start and then ignored through the next three quarters of the book while the author builds a cast of characters to wrangle around the murder.

All in all it's a combination of being easy to read ... but poorly written. Like I said: odd.

Five stars is frustrating. I'm inclined to rate is comparison with others in its genre (very broadly speaking), thus four stars, but if I were to compare it to other books I'd have to give it three at most, probably two but that feels so very low. It was good, not great, and succeeded at what it was trying to do.

I read this as a free e-book. It was a pleasant way to spend some evenings.

The mid-twenties protagonist is growing up and also inclined to imagine a bit too much, which is a good way of writing a low-stakes "cozy crime" novel. The genre-driven nature of publishing seems to push books into either crime or romance, but neither are truly central here. Instead it's more about the young woman, her aunt and creating a life worth writing about.