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hah2024 's review for:
Except the Dying
by Maureen Jennings
I’m not going to lie, I did pick this book up because my family likes the tv show based off of them, Murdoch Mysteries. And I much prefer the tv show.
I struggle with murder mystery books because there are so many characters to keep straight, so many potential suspects and friends of friends of servants. I never remember who’s involved with who and who did what and who’s where and it all just bleeds together in my mind. I love WATCHING murder mysteries, though, because I’ve got faces to the names, and their character count is low for each episode. The book was confusing, but that’s me. If you can follow all that info, you’d probably like it.
It was pretty sexual, so that was disappointing. Some random things thrown in there so casually, it was awkward to read. And I should have guessed, because they dealt with prostitutes, but I was still hoping for there to be a bit more discretion and subtlety. But nope, there was none.
So the two star rating is largely for the sex and my inability to follow the action.
And yes, the characters were different than how they are in the tv show so my expectations were also just too high. There was no Julia Ogden in the story, or funny and comedic relief constables. Crabtree wasn’t his regular, sweet, quirky self. In fact he was quite the opposite. In the book, he’s described as being a ‘giant of a man’ and he is the athlete of choice when the stations compete against each other, and he has four kids with another on the way. Very, VERY different from the Crabtree I was expecting. And it’s actually explicitly stated, too, that Brackenreid and Murdoch don’t like each other, and Murdoch works hard to tolerate Brackenreid. For most of the book, we only really see Murdoch and the suspects, victims, or witnesses. We don’t get the fun friendships from the station. So if you don’t watch Murdoch Mysteries, or don’t like it, maybe this book is for you.
I struggle with murder mystery books because there are so many characters to keep straight, so many potential suspects and friends of friends of servants. I never remember who’s involved with who and who did what and who’s where and it all just bleeds together in my mind. I love WATCHING murder mysteries, though, because I’ve got faces to the names, and their character count is low for each episode. The book was confusing, but that’s me. If you can follow all that info, you’d probably like it.
It was pretty sexual, so that was disappointing. Some random things thrown in there so casually, it was awkward to read. And I should have guessed, because they dealt with prostitutes, but I was still hoping for there to be a bit more discretion and subtlety. But nope, there was none.
So the two star rating is largely for the sex and my inability to follow the action.
And yes, the characters were different than how they are in the tv show so my expectations were also just too high. There was no Julia Ogden in the story, or funny and comedic relief constables. Crabtree wasn’t his regular, sweet, quirky self. In fact he was quite the opposite. In the book, he’s described as being a ‘giant of a man’ and he is the athlete of choice when the stations compete against each other, and he has four kids with another on the way. Very, VERY different from the Crabtree I was expecting. And it’s actually explicitly stated, too, that Brackenreid and Murdoch don’t like each other, and Murdoch works hard to tolerate Brackenreid. For most of the book, we only really see Murdoch and the suspects, victims, or witnesses. We don’t get the fun friendships from the station. So if you don’t watch Murdoch Mysteries, or don’t like it, maybe this book is for you.