A review by allons_y8
Murder by the Seaside: Classic Crime Stories for Summer by Cecily Gayford

adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.5

I think it is good that I went outside of my usual genre to read some classic murder mystery stories which were also short stories. I have read some murder mysteries before however as full on novels and sometimes modern. These stories are a very satisfying read as the mystery gets solved and also very intriguing however the formula is the same for each and although I love a Holmesian type detective it would have been nice to see a bit more variety. I think as much as I enjoy and admire the intelligence of the plots, what really makes a book for me is the characters and the emotion which these stories are lacking, I think purely because they are so short and don't have time to establish that. What I love about the full length Sherlock books I have read so far is that it isn't just an undefeatable intelligence machine, he has character and depth, same and more with the bbc tv series. This is again the same in the Antony Horowitz 'The word is murder' series. One of my favourite plot twists was when the amateur solved the crime and came up with the answer while the detective was on a tangent as it brought some variety to it. With the seaside theme to it, I couldn't really see it in the first two but it became more obvious throughout though wasn't particularly prevent apart from the recurrent theme of bodies in the sea, I think it is a nice theme to tie them together however not as prevent as one might think. Overall, I think they are fun, satisfying reads however I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading all in one go and also if emotion and heart in a story are your thing. I also didn't find them particularly gripping perhaps because there is no attachment to the character and teh attachment to teh case is resolved quickly as it is such a short story.