It's always feel it's a bit dicey picking up the second book in a series I haven’t read. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t standalone. I needn’t have been, as in the first few paragraphs the reader is treated to a turgid regurgitation of who the protagonist is, why they’re involved in solving crimes, and what happened previously – in the guise of expounding on some rather sloppy dialogue.
The whole set up of the story made very little sense, and I found it impossible to invest in the characters or the crime they were supposedly solving. To begin with, anyone who stumbles across a dead friend would know to call the police or an ambulance rather than their business partner, surely? It felt like the author had had to stretch disbelief a little too far in order to make it “fit” his plot.
It was also all a little obvious; naming the victim, a crime writer, “Ovid Holmes”, for example. A cozy mystery, as this was billed, can get away with a certain amount of kitsch, and I don't mind that, but there has to be some limit if the book isn’t to be rendered ridiculous.
This could all perhaps have been saved by a more sophisticated writing style. However, unfortunately I was left unimpressed.
A Brush with Death doesn’t appeal to me, though I'll concede I might feel differently if I'd read the first book in the series.
The whole set up of the story made very little sense, and I found it impossible to invest in the characters or the crime they were supposedly solving. To begin with, anyone who stumbles across a dead friend would know to call the police or an ambulance rather than their business partner, surely? It felt like the author had had to stretch disbelief a little too far in order to make it “fit” his plot.
It was also all a little obvious; naming the victim, a crime writer, “Ovid Holmes”, for example. A cozy mystery, as this was billed, can get away with a certain amount of kitsch, and I don't mind that, but there has to be some limit if the book isn’t to be rendered ridiculous.
This could all perhaps have been saved by a more sophisticated writing style. However, unfortunately I was left unimpressed.
A Brush with Death doesn’t appeal to me, though I'll concede I might feel differently if I'd read the first book in the series.