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jlmb's review
2.0
Uhhhhh....this is an odd book. What I like best about it is how strange it is to have an amoral detective as the lead. Mrs Bradley is a unique figure to hinge a detective series upon. Not likable & frankly creepy, I can see why Mitchell's creation of Mrs Bradley is not as well known as her peers' creations of Hercule Poirot or Lord Peter Wimsey.
As for the story itself, this is the weakest of the 3 books I have read so far. It's a traditional closed circle mystery & in a rural setting. However, the rural setting is barely described so there is no cozy, traditionally British feel. It's a closed circle of characters but all the characters are basically alike - just a gaggle of upper class British twits in their early twenties. Seriously, there are like a dozen of them in this story, all alike. I gave up attempting to keep the cast of characters straight. Usually, one gets an assortment of types so it's easy to keep them straight. Not here. That was annoying.
The local police are not fleshed out at all and I have already forgotten all about them. Only Mrs. Bradley is strongly developed.
There is no way for the reader to solve the mystery since Mitchell does not give us well really any clues that would be helpful. Instead we get a long detailed confession of the crime at the end. Huh. Seems like a cop out.
I will read the 4th in the series just because I am so fascinated at how crazy this Mrs Bradley character is. It's so odd having an unreliable narrator as the detective.
As for the story itself, this is the weakest of the 3 books I have read so far. It's a traditional closed circle mystery & in a rural setting. However, the rural setting is barely described so there is no cozy, traditionally British feel. It's a closed circle of characters but all the characters are basically alike - just a gaggle of upper class British twits in their early twenties. Seriously, there are like a dozen of them in this story, all alike. I gave up attempting to keep the cast of characters straight. Usually, one gets an assortment of types so it's easy to keep them straight. Not here. That was annoying.
The local police are not fleshed out at all and I have already forgotten all about them. Only Mrs. Bradley is strongly developed.
There is no way for the reader to solve the mystery since Mitchell does not give us well really any clues that would be helpful. Instead we get a long detailed confession of the crime at the end. Huh. Seems like a cop out.
I will read the 4th in the series just because I am so fascinated at how crazy this Mrs Bradley character is. It's so odd having an unreliable narrator as the detective.
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