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melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Good story with a twist at the end - well done, well executed, good tension, good characters. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
avidreadergirl1's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
In this book we encounter Daniel Kind with his partner who move to the lakes on a whim thus involuntarily upsetting the equilibrium of the village when they buy the house of a childhood friend of Daniel who was accused of murder.
Moreover, the story reveals that Daniel’s estranged father had been the DCI in charge of the murder investigation alongside his new sergeant, Hannah. As Daniel is trying to solve the mystery of the murder and discover who his father was, he unwittingly set things in motion that will allow the police to solve the now cold case murder and see a kind of friendship emerge between Daniel and Hannah.
I liked how the plot brought many characters together through a well written plot but I thought that Daniel’s partner didn’t add anything much to the story. Still, the plot was so well written that I didn’t find the ending midway through the book.
I definitely recommend this book.
denaiir's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
Loved the setting in the Lake District, the plot was not that interesting and the narration is quite dated, but I'm still going to continue the series
Loved the setting in the Lake District, the plot was not that interesting and the narration is quite dated, but I'm still going to continue the series
nichola's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This was a dead middle of the road mystery and to be honest this makes me want to reconsider all of the works of Christie because they are just so damn good. But this felt very heavy handed with the romance, which I have seen several people comment on. I would love to see a bit more focus on the mysteries in future and I really like Hannah, so it would be good to put her more in the frame.
Overall, Daniel needs to focus on history, Hannah needs more time to develop as the main narrator and less drama over romance would be good. But I am definitely keen to read another book in this series.
Overall, Daniel needs to focus on history, Hannah needs more time to develop as the main narrator and less drama over romance would be good. But I am definitely keen to read another book in this series.
sethlynch's review
3.0
This book was selected for the Isle of Man Crime Book Club read. I always feel I read the book s for this more harshly than I would if it were a book I’d selected myself. I had been thinking of reading a book by Martin Edwards as my future boss mention him in my job interview. He’s also coming to the Island on the 25th of June – If I am I’ll have to go a long to the Crime Evening he has organised. (as it turned out that was the day I left the Island so I missed this)
As for the book… It didn’t quite grab me. There were a lot of elements I really liked but there were too many inter-relationships. Nearly every character seems to have had an affair at some point and I felt this diluted the tension between the two main characters. There were some lines I really liked: ‘she had been pretty once, even her passport photograph couldn’t conceal that fact.’ And lines I didn’t: ‘…he couldn’t quite believe he’d taken things so far. Thank God their love for each other was so strong.’ There were a couple of times where a character notices that someone is sweating or red faced etc from a long distance away. As I read that it made me stop and think – can you really tell if beads of sweat are breaking out on someone’s forehead at a distance of twenty feet?
I made the mistake of reading the blurb on the front cover: 'A first-rate complex Thriller.' It is not a thriller in any shape or form. When I’d gotten about a hundred pages in I stopped expecting the thrills and started to read it for what it is – a modern day cozy. A slightly genre bending cozy but cozy non-the-less. It really felt like an episode of Midsomer Murders. Cozies aren’t really my thing but I like to read the odd one.
The way Edwards has set this up is nice. There are two main characters – an ex-Oxford don and a cop. The cop is working a cold case so and her ex-boss is the don’s late father. Her respect for his father means she (the cop is female) tolerates him more than she would otherwise. A cold case means there is no crime scene to be trampled over and gives scope for a non-cop to get involved. The location – a small village in The Lakes gives you an enclosed set of suspects. And Edwards plays by the rules of the Detection Club – no clues are withheld, no seemingly sane person turns out to be crazy (so not too much like Midsommer Murders) and he does not rely on co-incidences.
I pretty much worked out who had done it and why at about the half-way point. The line that gave it way for me came on page 190 of the 299 page novel. It wasn’t a line related to the crime and I don’t know why it triggered the reaction it did but as soon as read I knew what had happened. In fact I was only about 75% correct. It made reading the rest of the book different. It didn’t spoil it at all, I became interested in how Edwards would misdirect people. It was like watching a magician when you know the trick – you can still admire the skill and dexterity of the performance.
If you are into Whodunnits then this is right up your street.
Martin Edwards has a blog here: http://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/ which I recommend. He is very knowledgeable about crime fiction and has good taste in films.
As for the book… It didn’t quite grab me. There were a lot of elements I really liked but there were too many inter-relationships. Nearly every character seems to have had an affair at some point and I felt this diluted the tension between the two main characters. There were some lines I really liked: ‘she had been pretty once, even her passport photograph couldn’t conceal that fact.’ And lines I didn’t: ‘…he couldn’t quite believe he’d taken things so far. Thank God their love for each other was so strong.’ There were a couple of times where a character notices that someone is sweating or red faced etc from a long distance away. As I read that it made me stop and think – can you really tell if beads of sweat are breaking out on someone’s forehead at a distance of twenty feet?
I made the mistake of reading the blurb on the front cover: 'A first-rate complex Thriller.' It is not a thriller in any shape or form. When I’d gotten about a hundred pages in I stopped expecting the thrills and started to read it for what it is – a modern day cozy. A slightly genre bending cozy but cozy non-the-less. It really felt like an episode of Midsomer Murders. Cozies aren’t really my thing but I like to read the odd one.
The way Edwards has set this up is nice. There are two main characters – an ex-Oxford don and a cop. The cop is working a cold case so and her ex-boss is the don’s late father. Her respect for his father means she (the cop is female) tolerates him more than she would otherwise. A cold case means there is no crime scene to be trampled over and gives scope for a non-cop to get involved. The location – a small village in The Lakes gives you an enclosed set of suspects. And Edwards plays by the rules of the Detection Club – no clues are withheld, no seemingly sane person turns out to be crazy (so not too much like Midsommer Murders) and he does not rely on co-incidences.
I pretty much worked out who had done it and why at about the half-way point. The line that gave it way for me came on page 190 of the 299 page novel. It wasn’t a line related to the crime and I don’t know why it triggered the reaction it did but as soon as read I knew what had happened. In fact I was only about 75% correct. It made reading the rest of the book different. It didn’t spoil it at all, I became interested in how Edwards would misdirect people. It was like watching a magician when you know the trick – you can still admire the skill and dexterity of the performance.
If you are into Whodunnits then this is right up your street.
Martin Edwards has a blog here: http://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/ which I recommend. He is very knowledgeable about crime fiction and has good taste in films.
vkellermann89's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
nonna7's review
4.0
This is another one of those books that has been sitting on my shelf for a while. It takes place in a small town in the Lake District of England. Daniel Kind, a well known historian and professor at Oxford is in love with Miranda a free lance features writer for magazines. On a holiday she talks him into buying a rundown cottage that once belonged to a boyhood friend when he and his family spent a summer holiday in the town. He had been thirteen at the time, but he didn’t write him as he had promised and they never saw one another.
Ten years later Barrie who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome is accused of the murder of a young woman who was visiting an old friend who lived in the town. He falls into a gully, breaks both legs and dies of exposure. The police have no suspect and the town is convinced that Barrie is the murderer. Daniel is not and starts to ask questions much to the chagrin of the townspeople who would prefer that he leave it alone.
He also wants to learn more about his father, a police detective, who left his mother and children for life with another woman. He and his sister were not allowed to have any contact with their father after he left. Now he wants to know more about him.
Coincidentally a new cold case unit has opened up headed by DI Hannah Scarlett who started out her career working for David’s father, Ben. The murder of the young woman is the first case of the new unit.
nocto's review
2.0
I've read good things about this series so I thought I'd start at the beginning with the first book. Unfortunately the author thought much the same thing and started the book with a load of backstory that seemed to me as if it could have been left out. The interesting bits were indeed left to be filled in later so what you get is a long slow start with very little mystery and a lot of clunky writing. When the book got going I quite enjoyed it and the writing either got better or at least annoyed me less. Though I thought the plot was a bit thin the characters grew on me after the shaky start. I won't say that I won't pick up another of these later if I keep hearing good things about them but I think it was a mistake to start with this one.
robinwalter's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Another gem from Martin Edwards. A well crafted story with credible characters and a fine example of how to set up a series
kimreads_'s review
4.0
Amazing book. Only gave 4 stars as I felt the end had a few twists and turns (almost too many) but I would recommend for a good crime novel