hollanddavis 's review for:

The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro
3.0

 Gemma Tate’s brother dies only hours after witnessing a murderer discard a body, and she’s determined the two are linked. Inspector Sebastian Bell is the man assigned the case of the Highgate Angel: the women murdered and displayed in a cemetery on All Hallows Eve. When Gemma approaches Inspector Bell about the link between her brother’s death and the body found in the cemetery, they start to work together toward a common goal: catching a murderer.

This book definitely has you putting puzzle pieces together once the investigation starts, and it came to a very satisfying conclusion. It felt like Shapiro was spoon feeding the readers a bit along the way. If a character is nervous during an interview, shifting in his seat or not making eye contact, leave it up to the audience to interpret what that means. There was a tendency for both characters, Gemma and Sebastian, to over explain every clue to make sure the reader picked up on it. This is also a book that had a lot of “gut instincts”, whether it was that a witness was telling the truth or where to look for a clue, it felt a bit much, and I would’ve liked a little bit more deduction from the detective. I usually like to end mysteries by looking back at the clues I missed, but I didn’t have with this one.

I didn’t know going into this book that there would be such explicit detail about sexual assault cases, so here is a warning to future readers incase that is something you would like to avoid.

I don’t know if I felt the connection between Gemma and Sebastian like I was supposed to, but can appreciate a slow burn and look forward to what Sharpiro has in stall for the next book.

Thank you Storm Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC!