Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 2nd, 2021.
Plot: 3/5 Writing: 3/5 Characters: 4/5
Crime novelists keep turning up dead in this second Harbinder Kaur novel by Elly Griffiths. The first to go is Peggy Smith — resident of Seaview Court in Shoreham and murder consultant to the literary stars. While our 35-year old lesbian, Sikh, still-living-at-home detective grumbles her way through the case, she is aided (against her will) by a beautiful Ukranian carer with a history of cybercrime, an ancient BBC producer, and an ex-monk turned coffee shop owner, shyly looking for a woman with quirks.
Griffiths’ books always grow on me — they can start off kind of klunky, but I always get involved and want to finish. I like the characters, and although these are definitely cozies with a capital C, there are enough surprises to keep me going.
I do prefer the Ruth Galloway series — this book felt like it was written a little more quickly, had more filler, and was slower paced than some of her previous books. On the other hand, I’ve had many Galloway books which see the characters fully develop, and I am personally more interested in the details of forensic archeology than I am with literary murder writers. There are a lot of fun crime fiction references (both book and film) that I enjoyed.
Books to look forward to ... 