Devi Nair
š±š Read on Kobo š 416 pages ā± Duration: ~6 hours š·ļø Publisher: HarperNorth
Jonathan Whitelaw's Bingo Hall Detective series is a comfort read gold for me. Those are clever mysteries, with charming characters, and that cozy mystery sweet spot where murder feels oddly wholesome. So when I checked out this one, I was ready to set sail. Unfortunately, what I got instead was a rocky voyage that never quite found its footing.
The central relationship between Howie Temple and Cassandra Troy is supposed to be the pillar here as sparring partners turned reluctant sleuths. But their dynamic felt forced, like two puzzle pieces jammed together because the box said they should fit. And the twists that kept coming till the end. By the last chapter, I was exhausted. A good mystery knows where to land the plane. This one kept circling the runway.
I wanted to love it. I really did. Whitelaw is someone I've chatted with at MOTIVE, someone whose energy and storytelling I genuinely admire. Having met him and loved his previous books, this one stings a little more for not being in my area. It's that rare heartbreak when an auto-buy author doesn't deliver the experience you were hoping for.
š±š Read on Kobo š 416 pages ā± Duration: ~6 hours š·ļø Publisher: HarperNorth
Jonathan Whitelaw's Bingo Hall Detective series is a comfort read gold for me. Those are clever mysteries, with charming characters, and that cozy mystery sweet spot where murder feels oddly wholesome. So when I checked out this one, I was ready to set sail. Unfortunately, what I got instead was a rocky voyage that never quite found its footing.
The central relationship between Howie Temple and Cassandra Troy is supposed to be the pillar here as sparring partners turned reluctant sleuths. But their dynamic felt forced, like two puzzle pieces jammed together because the box said they should fit. And the twists that kept coming till the end. By the last chapter, I was exhausted. A good mystery knows where to land the plane. This one kept circling the runway.
I wanted to love it. I really did. Whitelaw is someone I've chatted with at MOTIVE, someone whose energy and storytelling I genuinely admire. Having met him and loved his previous books, this one stings a little more for not being in my area. It's that rare heartbreak when an auto-buy author doesn't deliver the experience you were hoping for.