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deeclancy's review against another edition
2.0
Reading this book was one of my attempts at trying out crime writers at random that I haven't read before. I know that the author is a very well-known name in the genre, but I wasn't really wild about this book. Admittedly, I obviously haven't read any other books in the series about amateur sleuth Alvira and her husband, Willy. But it has an air of young adult fiction about it, in the way in which the loose ends are very neatly tied up. There's a very definite happy-ever-after for the good eggs and an equally long spell in prison for the bad eggs in the book that you really only get in fiction aimed at youth. Added to this, we pretty much know the identities of the goodies/baddies fairly early on in the book.
We know who Delaney's birth mother is likely to be within the first few chapters, really, so there's no suspense around that aspect of things (Delaney is a young investigative journalist and news anchor featured in the book).
I mean, we all like things to turn out well for the decent people in stories, but any accounts I have read of adopted people finding their biological relatives are usually a tad more emotionally complicated than portrayed in this book. And though written in recent years, neither the birth mother nor the daughter she adopted out think about going on one of the DNA websites to trace their relatives, which is what many people do these days. As both parties are described as harbouring a profound longing in this regard, it's hardly plausible that they wouldn't explore this avenue in the 27 years that they have been separated.
This is an old-fashioned book and it has its charms, but I wouldn't regard it as being particularly nuanced crime fiction.
We know who Delaney's birth mother is likely to be within the first few chapters, really, so there's no suspense around that aspect of things (Delaney is a young investigative journalist and news anchor featured in the book).
I mean, we all like things to turn out well for the decent people in stories, but any accounts I have read of adopted people finding their biological relatives are usually a tad more emotionally complicated than portrayed in this book. And though written in recent years, neither the birth mother nor the daughter she adopted out think about going on one of the DNA websites to trace their relatives, which is what many people do these days. As both parties are described as harbouring a profound longing in this regard, it's hardly plausible that they wouldn't explore this avenue in the 27 years that they have been separated.
This is an old-fashioned book and it has its charms, but I wouldn't regard it as being particularly nuanced crime fiction.
mamax4j's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
barbarawli's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
ajchaaan's review against another edition
3.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
surprisingly predictable for me. i think the story dwelled so much time on the hearings and there wasn’t any depth for the purpose of the killer in doing the crime - i was looking for a more and deeper back story
surprisingly predictable for me. i think the story dwelled so much time on the hearings and there wasn’t any depth for the purpose of the killer in doing the crime - i was looking for a more and deeper back story
princessleia4life's review against another edition
2.0
I didn’t care for this mystery as one it was obvious who Delaney’s mother was (why else were we featuring so much of Betsy Grant’s trial?). It also was obvious who the real killer was and the drug mini plot felt really weird. Really these felt like three different plots that were combined to create one novel and created a lot of problems. First was Delaney’s story of finding her birth mom, with Alvirah and Willy searching down leads. Now I love them as detectives, but for someone who has been searching for years they discovered the truth in days. Weird. That really should have been a short story featuring them. The second plot was the Betsy Brant trial that was the best plotted out of the three. It really got slowed down with the other two mini plots interjecting and taking away from this main story. Then we had a mini plot of a famous director’s son dying from an overdose, and doctor’s being the suppliers. That one was underdeveloped, as if the Doctor was losing so much money he agreed to murder his longtime friend to get a percentage of the money from the son’s inheritance why didn’t he have any money from all the illegal drugs he was selling? Where did that money go? It was put in randomly and the “investigative reporter” didn’t do that much investigating. This book felt really messy and I was disappointed in it.
jamballdonut's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
After reading another in the Alvirah and Willy series, I really should've known I wasn't going to enjoy this story. When writing with another author (The "Under Suspicion" series), I really enjoy MHC books, but when writing solo, I just cannot get on board.
Her writing is clunky and there's never a nice flow to it. And the same criticism I had for another in the Alvirah and Willy series, why does she use character names when talking so dang much?! It's unnatural! I don't know anybody who starts almost every sentence with the other person's name when they're only talking to them.
There's not much to say, the plot was boring and predictable. I knew from almost the beginning who the mother would be, and the sudden appearance of a key witness in the trial just seemed like a cop out.
I'm hoping I don't have any other MHC books in the pile I borrowed from the library, because I'm not interested in reading another solo-written book. I will happily continue to read the "Under Suspicion" series though.
Her writing is clunky and there's never a nice flow to it. And the same criticism I had for another in the Alvirah and Willy series, why does she use character names when talking so dang much?! It's unnatural! I don't know anybody who starts almost every sentence with the other person's name when they're only talking to them.
There's not much to say, the plot was boring and predictable. I knew from almost the beginning who the mother would be, and the sudden appearance of a key witness in the trial just seemed like a cop out.
I'm hoping I don't have any other MHC books in the pile I borrowed from the library, because I'm not interested in reading another solo-written book. I will happily continue to read the "Under Suspicion" series though.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Medical content, Death, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Abortion and Suicidal thoughts