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A review by herreadingroom
A Conflict of Interests by Claire Gradidge
3.0
Jo and Bram are called to investigate the gruesome discovery of charred human remains in a burned out car. However Bram unexpectedly falls ill from complications relating to a war wound leaving Jo, his able and feisty assistant, to continue with their enquiries.
This is the 3rd book in this series about this investigative duo but I did not feel at a loss from not having read the previous two books, indeed I felt it worked very well as a standalone novel.
There is a slow, gentle, easy going pace through much of this book but then, towards the latter part of the book, the pace picks up a bit of speed towards the final crescendo.
I felt that the “whodunnit” in this mystery was fairly obvious from the start but the “why” certainly wasn’t, and when that reveal came it gave a nice surprising flourish to the plot.
The characterisation was good (I particularly liked Jo) and the plot was nicely developed - there were some elements of the plot which raised a wry eyebrow for me, namely the handling of evidence at crime scenes (moving items without gloves) but it felt fairly easy to forgive as it seemed very much in keeping with the era within which the story was set.
Overall, I found this a thoroughly enjoyable read.
This is the 3rd book in this series about this investigative duo but I did not feel at a loss from not having read the previous two books, indeed I felt it worked very well as a standalone novel.
There is a slow, gentle, easy going pace through much of this book but then, towards the latter part of the book, the pace picks up a bit of speed towards the final crescendo.
I felt that the “whodunnit” in this mystery was fairly obvious from the start but the “why” certainly wasn’t, and when that reveal came it gave a nice surprising flourish to the plot.
The characterisation was good (I particularly liked Jo) and the plot was nicely developed - there were some elements of the plot which raised a wry eyebrow for me, namely the handling of evidence at crime scenes (moving items without gloves) but it felt fairly easy to forgive as it seemed very much in keeping with the era within which the story was set.
Overall, I found this a thoroughly enjoyable read.