Reviews

An Accidental Death by Peter Grainger

Only show reviews with written explanations

mrgatlin's review against another edition

3.0

A decent police procedural that follows Detective Sgt DC Smith as he investigates a drowning that may or may not be accidental. A fairly common archetype-detective in late middle age, widower, no taste for office politics and great detective instincts-I enjoyed the relationship between Smith and the trainee Detective Constable Waters. The mystery was pretty good too, though there were times I wished the story had moved a bit quicker.

What I did not enjoy was the use of the word 'colored' to refer to a minor character on more than one occasion. This book was written in 2013 and there is no sense that it is set in an earlier decade that might (just might) make this barely acceptable. Since the character shows no other indications of racial prejudice I can only assume that this reflects the author's own feelings.

mdesoer's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Decent police procedural. I didn't quite get how all the loose ends tied up at the end and I still had some questions, which is why I didn't rate it higher.

mermcw's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I really liked the first half of the book, but then I felt like the plot went off the rails and I lost interest in that part of the story. However, I liked the protagonist and main characters enough to try book 2 of the series.

kjackmi's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Excited to discover a new series! also love the audio reader.

But major points off for...WTF is up with use of the term "colored" to describe a character? What decade are we in???? Everyone is using cell phones so I assume this is the 21st century. How did an editor let this pass?