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unapologetic_bibliosmia's review
5.0
Another wonderfully funny journey with the unfortunate Constable Twitten (too clever for his own good); The 'Stupid' Sergeant Brunswick (always getting shot in the leg whilst desperate to go undercover); and the infuriatingly incompetent Inspector Steine (that's S-T-E-E-N).
This time, our Twitten is busy trying to work out what an escaped lunatic who has a penchant for boiling policeman's heads is going to mean for his Inspector, whilst Inspector Steine himself is far too wrapped up in his newly found celebrity status to worry about such petty incidents as a Broadmoor escapee, and is savouring the fandom of all around him.
Our lovely Mrs. Groynes (charlady-cum-criminal-mastermind) is put out somewhat when Inspector Steine's new secretary arrives in the form of Roberta Lennon, and the delights and magic of her new electric kettle are soon pushed aside. And just what has happened to her close aide Barrow-boy Cecil?
I absolutely adore this series, and this one was no exception. Each one is witty, clever, funny and subtly mocks the patriarchy and incompetence of our Great British Police Force with a warm fuzzy feeling. You can't help but feel for poor Twitten, root for clever Mrs. Groynes and cringe at Inspector Steine.
Despite this being the fourth in the series it does standalone well, as the previous events are explained at the beginning.
Good, light hearted, quintessential, funny and endearing crime, with some clever words thrown in the mix for entertainment. I can't wait for the next one! Who knew crime and humour went so well.
5 silver truncheon, wobble blancmange stars.
This time, our Twitten is busy trying to work out what an escaped lunatic who has a penchant for boiling policeman's heads is going to mean for his Inspector, whilst Inspector Steine himself is far too wrapped up in his newly found celebrity status to worry about such petty incidents as a Broadmoor escapee, and is savouring the fandom of all around him.
Our lovely Mrs. Groynes (charlady-cum-criminal-mastermind) is put out somewhat when Inspector Steine's new secretary arrives in the form of Roberta Lennon, and the delights and magic of her new electric kettle are soon pushed aside. And just what has happened to her close aide Barrow-boy Cecil?
I absolutely adore this series, and this one was no exception. Each one is witty, clever, funny and subtly mocks the patriarchy and incompetence of our Great British Police Force with a warm fuzzy feeling. You can't help but feel for poor Twitten, root for clever Mrs. Groynes and cringe at Inspector Steine.
Despite this being the fourth in the series it does standalone well, as the previous events are explained at the beginning.
Good, light hearted, quintessential, funny and endearing crime, with some clever words thrown in the mix for entertainment. I can't wait for the next one! Who knew crime and humour went so well.
5 silver truncheon, wobble blancmange stars.
cestkevvie's review
3.0
I received an ARC of Psycho by the sea through NetGalley.
I requested this book expecting it to be a cozy mystery. I was mistaken, it’s more of a police procedural. You know from the begging who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. There isn’t really a big twist or anything, you’re just waiting to see whether or not the bad guys get away with it. It’s about a police informant who goes missing, and a bunch of other stuff. There were too many things happening. I love when a mystery has a lot going on, not just a one and done murder, but slowly builds the mystery with higher and higher stakes. This wasn’t how Psycho by the Sea went though. Rather than starting with a small event and building, it had all the events happen at once. And we don’t know that they’re connected so it just feels disjointed and hard to keep track of.
This book is fourth in a series, and I haven’t read the first three. My ARC came with a brief introduction to the returning characters but, it still took a while for me to get familiar with them. One thing that confused me was that despite the series being listed as the Constable Twitten series, his presence was no greater than the other detectives. So why is his name on the cover and not the others? I also gotta say I’m a little confused by the title. I’m pretty sure who the “psycho” of the novel is, but I don’t recall a single mention of the sea or ocean in the text. With “the Sea” being in the title I thought it would have played a more significant role in the story.
I’m not normally one to knock a book for using profanity, I believe that since vulgar language is common in reality, it’s only natural for books to reflect that. However, they said “bally” way too bally much in this book. I’d never even heard that one before, and the word itself doesn’t offend me, but the fact that it was used 67 times is egregious. I get wanting to use language ticks to portray personality, but this was just way too much bally.
So far this reads like a pretty negative review, but I did not dislike it! One of the expectations of NetGalley is that I provide an honest review, and these are my honest opinions. It was a fine book, and I enjoyed some of the characters. The late-night conversations between Twitten and Mrs G were fun, and the axe-wielding cop-killer brought some excellent color to the story, even if those colors were black and white! This isn’t my preferred sub-genre of mystery, but if you’re a fan of police procedurals then Psycho by the Sea has a lot to offer.
I requested this book expecting it to be a cozy mystery. I was mistaken, it’s more of a police procedural. You know from the begging who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. There isn’t really a big twist or anything, you’re just waiting to see whether or not the bad guys get away with it. It’s about a police informant who goes missing, and a bunch of other stuff. There were too many things happening. I love when a mystery has a lot going on, not just a one and done murder, but slowly builds the mystery with higher and higher stakes. This wasn’t how Psycho by the Sea went though. Rather than starting with a small event and building, it had all the events happen at once. And we don’t know that they’re connected so it just feels disjointed and hard to keep track of.
This book is fourth in a series, and I haven’t read the first three. My ARC came with a brief introduction to the returning characters but, it still took a while for me to get familiar with them. One thing that confused me was that despite the series being listed as the Constable Twitten series, his presence was no greater than the other detectives. So why is his name on the cover and not the others? I also gotta say I’m a little confused by the title. I’m pretty sure who the “psycho” of the novel is, but I don’t recall a single mention of the sea or ocean in the text. With “the Sea” being in the title I thought it would have played a more significant role in the story.
I’m not normally one to knock a book for using profanity, I believe that since vulgar language is common in reality, it’s only natural for books to reflect that. However, they said “bally” way too bally much in this book. I’d never even heard that one before, and the word itself doesn’t offend me, but the fact that it was used 67 times is egregious. I get wanting to use language ticks to portray personality, but this was just way too much bally.
So far this reads like a pretty negative review, but I did not dislike it! One of the expectations of NetGalley is that I provide an honest review, and these are my honest opinions. It was a fine book, and I enjoyed some of the characters. The late-night conversations between Twitten and Mrs G were fun, and the axe-wielding cop-killer brought some excellent color to the story, even if those colors were black and white! This isn’t my preferred sub-genre of mystery, but if you’re a fan of police procedurals then Psycho by the Sea has a lot to offer.
annarella's review
4.0
I never know if I'm going to like the stories in this series or not as it's a bit of hit/miss for me. I liked this one and had a lot of fun in reading it.
The plot is well developed, flows and kept me reading. The quirky characters are fleshed out and funny.
There's plenty of humor and there's a weird mystery that I liked.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
The plot is well developed, flows and kept me reading. The quirky characters are fleshed out and funny.
There's plenty of humor and there's a weird mystery that I liked.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
solaceinliterature's review
3.0
This was a fun cozy mystery read set in 1950s Brighton. The book is easy to read, but contains British slang and lingo, which some readers may find difficult to understand. The characters have distinct characteristics which make the story interesting and funny to follow. The story is shown through male characters so there are some scenes which I felt objectified the female characters, and this made me uncomfortable. This is the 4th book in a series but it is not necessary to read the books in order, though it is advisable (as the author states in the beginning of the book).The book has only 12 long chapters, which hindered the reading experience for me. Shorter chapters would have been better considering that this is a mystery book. The mystery was well-crafted and unpredictable, though I must admit that I could not enjoy this book much as I listened to it as an audiobook. For the next book in the series, perhaps I'll pick up an e-book instead.
lilena's review
4.0
Psycho by the Sea was a fun and easy read with an excellent ending!
Whilst it would perhaps have been easier to read had I read the two previous instalments, the ‘brief (helpful) notes’ were just that and established this as a fairly effective standalone story. It was funny and well-paced and you are soon sucked into the escapades of our heroes(?) Sergeant Brunswicke and Constable Twitten as they race to find an escaped convict with a penchant for decapitating and boiling the heads of policemen!
After several weeks of essay writing (perhaps more tense this week due to impending deadlines!) it was exactly the kind of book to unwind to – whilst I couldn’t put it down myself, it doesn’t pressure you the same way other thrillers and mysteries are perhaps more likely to do, which I thoroughly appreciated. Perhaps a book to read on Brighton Beach? Do keep an eye out for anyone with overpriced mechanical rabbits though, they may be wanted by the police!
My thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, Ravens Books and Lynne Truss for this ARC.
Whilst it would perhaps have been easier to read had I read the two previous instalments, the ‘brief (helpful) notes’ were just that and established this as a fairly effective standalone story. It was funny and well-paced and you are soon sucked into the escapades of our heroes(?) Sergeant Brunswicke and Constable Twitten as they race to find an escaped convict with a penchant for decapitating and boiling the heads of policemen!
After several weeks of essay writing (perhaps more tense this week due to impending deadlines!) it was exactly the kind of book to unwind to – whilst I couldn’t put it down myself, it doesn’t pressure you the same way other thrillers and mysteries are perhaps more likely to do, which I thoroughly appreciated. Perhaps a book to read on Brighton Beach? Do keep an eye out for anyone with overpriced mechanical rabbits though, they may be wanted by the police!
My thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, Ravens Books and Lynne Truss for this ARC.
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