Scan barcode
A review by annareadsmysteries
A Christmas Railway Mystery by Edward Marston
2.0
I have debated this long and hard. I want to find something from Edward Marston that finally gets at least a 4 - I mean, it's Edward Marston, surely he has written something good. Well, I'm sad to say that this was not it.
I've picked this up, as it was advertised as a Christmas mystery, but there is not much Christmas in this book. The only mention of it is that the detectives 'must' solve a murder that happened before Christmas so that they can travel home and spend time with their families. There are also sections inserted into the story, where the main Inspector's wife is decorating the house and is waiting for letters from her husband, debating with her father if his husband will arrive home or not... These parts kept repeating to the point that I'd started jumping over them. But without these parts, this was not festive at all.
Now let's talk about the storytelling. It was so bad - so plain, direct - condescending even. Often I felt like either this is written for children, either the author thinks we are idiots.
I made it a point to look up if this is at least classified as YA, but nope - It's for adults alright.
There is not much to talk about this book otherwise - it's a story that could have functioned without the Christmas element and it has a very weak murderer revelation. If you have already read this, you must agree that the person the author chose as the killer did not work and the motive was so weak that it did not make sense why that person would do a few things and then be revealed as the one who committed the deeds.
SO with all said and written down, I would not recommend much from Marston. Some of his Murder on the Cunard line books are alright and he does really good story collections, on the other hand, so feel free to pick up anything edited by him.
I've picked this up, as it was advertised as a Christmas mystery, but there is not much Christmas in this book. The only mention of it is that the detectives 'must' solve a murder that happened before Christmas so that they can travel home and spend time with their families. There are also sections inserted into the story, where the main Inspector's wife is decorating the house and is waiting for letters from her husband, debating with her father if his husband will arrive home or not... These parts kept repeating to the point that I'd started jumping over them. But without these parts, this was not festive at all.
Now let's talk about the storytelling. It was so bad - so plain, direct - condescending even. Often I felt like either this is written for children, either the author thinks we are idiots.
I made it a point to look up if this is at least classified as YA, but nope - It's for adults alright.
There is not much to talk about this book otherwise - it's a story that could have functioned without the Christmas element and it has a very weak murderer revelation. If you have already read this, you must agree that the person the author chose as the killer did not work and the motive was so weak that it did not make sense why that person would do a few things and then be revealed as the one who committed the deeds.
SO with all said and written down, I would not recommend much from Marston. Some of his Murder on the Cunard line books are alright and he does really good story collections, on the other hand, so feel free to pick up anything edited by him.