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ashleylm's review
4.0
I really like these, and will be disappointed when they're over.
Rather than pointing out what she does so well, I'm going to complain about what I often don't like in mysteries—and point out that she doesn't make those errors.
1. Infrequent appearances by the detective(s), e.g. Christie's Three Act Tragedy. Not so here, our duo are present throughout.
2. Suspects who are hard to tell apart from one another, so you have to keep flipping back to see "which one was the elderly banker, and which one was the middle-aged banker, and which one was the other middle-aged banker?" Here Porter juggles such characters as a woman leading the charge to ordain women, a dainty but knowing elderly niece, a pedophile, and so on. No problems there.
3. Solutions which hinge upon information withheld from the reader. Well, she didn't quite tell us everything, but by the time of the final revelation I'd figured it out anyway, so that's good. I still didn't know who did it (I knew why, or why-ish), so there were still surprises to come.
4. It's actually funny. Some of the humour has worn off a little over time, but most of it is still fresh, if "fresh" can be used to describe anything related to Dover.
Some of my standard complaints about mysteries don't apply at all here: infrequent appearances by the actual detectives
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
Rather than pointing out what she does so well, I'm going to complain about what I often don't like in mysteries—and point out that she doesn't make those errors.
1. Infrequent appearances by the detective(s), e.g. Christie's Three Act Tragedy. Not so here, our duo are present throughout.
2. Suspects who are hard to tell apart from one another, so you have to keep flipping back to see "which one was the elderly banker, and which one was the middle-aged banker, and which one was the other middle-aged banker?" Here Porter juggles such characters as a woman leading the charge to ordain women, a dainty but knowing elderly niece, a pedophile, and so on. No problems there.
3. Solutions which hinge upon information withheld from the reader. Well, she didn't quite tell us everything, but by the time of the final revelation I'd figured it out anyway, so that's good. I still didn't know who did it (I knew why, or why-ish), so there were still surprises to come.
4. It's actually funny. Some of the humour has worn off a little over time, but most of it is still fresh, if "fresh" can be used to describe anything related to Dover.
Some of my standard complaints about mysteries don't apply at all here: infrequent appearances by the actual detectives
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
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