A review by lucypreston
Murder at the Bonfire by Penny Blackwell

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was really excited about the idea of a Bonfire night murder mystery however this book didn't work for me. The book seemed to loose focus fairly often and would go off on tangents into other things happening in the characters lives and forget to actually progress with the mystery element of the book. I found that in particular the author tried to force romantic relationships between a lot of the characters which destroyed the momentum of the mystery and felt extremely forced. This book is the second book in a series which I didn't realise when I picked it up so maybe the relationships would've felt more natural had I read the first book.

I found the ending very rushed and the entire mystery is summarised in the penultimate chapter. I couldn't see how any of the clues in the rest of the book would lead you to the conclusion so the rest of the book felt like it was just killing time before the big reveal.