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mystery_reader_24's review
4.0
Book number eight in the Inspector Ben Ross mystery series was a treat to read. Aunt Parry prays on Lizzie's sense of responsibility and empathy to accompany her on another trip to New Forest. It ends up being the opposite of a 'restorative' vacation. More mysterious circumstances surrounding a crime requires the assistance of Inspector Ross to figure out who-done-it, although Lizzie makes her own contributions to solving the case.
gewidder's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
2.25
It's a solid book, and generally well written, but it fell flat for me. That is a subjective review of how I liked the book, obviously, so someone else may very well have greatly enjoyed the story and been intrigued by it. I was also not familiar with this series, so I had no prior attachment to the central characters. I was only very mildly interested in the conclusion, and was a bit underwhelmed by it in the end. I felt most strongly about one aspect of the eventual explanation for the crime, which I expected would be met with outrage and sympathy from the characters - yet it is framed so indifferently, I couldn't help but dislike the characters even more by the end.
That is a general issue I had with the book: too many of the central characters are unlikeable, and I'm sure they're not all supposed to be. They consistently react to each other with annoyance and arrogance; it's an endless cycle of "she snapped", "she asked sharply", "he demanded" and "she was angry". They may have reason to be upset, but it was grating to imagine the characters so snappish all the time. On top of this, the book - like any other book under the sun, it feels like - contains many fatphobic stereotypes. It's maddening to read the same tired descriptors intended to make clear to the reader that a character is lazy, or not as smart, or not as nice. Since it is the titular character who most often comments on people's bodies (in her mind), it's even more difficult to go along with her on this ride.
Therefore I can't really say the book is uncontroversial for me personally, but if you wish to read what I would call a mild murder mystery, go for this. If you want to escape to 1870s England for a whodunnit that will not keep you up at night, a book that won't make you weep or have any other feelings you wanted to escape from in the first place, this is ideal. The writing flows quite well and the book isn't drawn out to an epic length.
That is a general issue I had with the book: too many of the central characters are unlikeable, and I'm sure they're not all supposed to be. They consistently react to each other with annoyance and arrogance; it's an endless cycle of "she snapped", "she asked sharply", "he demanded" and "she was angry". They may have reason to be upset, but it was grating to imagine the characters so snappish all the time. On top of this, the book - like any other book under the sun, it feels like - contains many fatphobic stereotypes. It's maddening to read the same tired descriptors intended to make clear to the reader that a character is lazy, or not as smart, or not as nice. Since it is the titular character who most often comments on people's bodies (in her mind), it's even more difficult to go along with her on this ride.
Therefore I can't really say the book is uncontroversial for me personally, but if you wish to read what I would call a mild murder mystery, go for this. If you want to escape to 1870s England for a whodunnit that will not keep you up at night, a book that won't make you weep or have any other feelings you wanted to escape from in the first place, this is ideal. The writing flows quite well and the book isn't drawn out to an epic length.
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