A review by nonna7
The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards

3.0

obtained a copy of this book through paperbackswap.com. After reading the first book in the series, I was interested enough to get two more through the swap group. This is the second in the series. After reading it I've decided not to continue with the series. If I was 20 years younger, perhaps I would, but there are so many books in my TBR shelf that I really want to concentrate on the series that I find the most interesting. This series features a contemporary female detective who heads a cold case division and a historian. The first book, Coffin Trail, introduced the characters. There was a lot of emotion crackling both on the surface and beneath. In this book the characters are bloodless and uninteresting. I stuck with the book to the end, but that's it. It was interesting to learn that arsenic was actually mined in this area of the Lake District of England. The book opens with Guy who is back in the area with plans to get a big financial windfall. When he calls a local newspaper reporter that a missing woman will never be found, DI Hannah Scarlett opens a new cold case investigation. The police find her body and another one that is a considerably older murder. That's where historian Daniel Kind comes into the picture. It was all very contrived in my opinion and the history is not all that interesting. At least it wasn't to me. It was ok and did have an ending that was more than just a little bit of a twist. Still, it wasn't enough to encourage me to continue with the series.