Lezersrecensie
Cosy and Suspense
Within the first pages, we meet an elderly lady who’s murdered by her young companion in an ingenious way. Everybody thinks she had a heart attack.
Then we meet Richard and Delia. Richard is recovering from a heart attack and has been given a motorhome by a well-meaning uncle. Now he has sent their children on European and African trips and he wants to travel around Australia for the next year with his wife. Delia is far less enthusiastic about this plan but is reluctant to bring it up. She enjoys her job in the local bank and her colleagues. One of her co-workers takes her to his book club in the house of a famous actress. There she learns that 4 of its members have died over the last months. As a fact, the widow of another member comes round to tell that her husband just died the previous night. Is this club cursed as one of its members thinks?
From here on, the book gets a bit strange. Delia receives a large sum and several bank-account numbers from the actress and doesn’t know what to think or do.
Most of the people in this little coastal town seem awfully nice, the book-club and colleagues but especially Andrew who’s so empathic and concerned. But we know from the start that there’s a murderer amongst them. It’s a bit disappointing that we learn his/her identity around half-way.
Karin, the actress is condemned rather harshly by Delia, but I can relate to some of the things she did. Giving up a child for adoption (for whatever reason) isn’t necessarily an evil or bad thing to do. I’m sure that most mothers find that a very difficult decision and even when they don’t hesitate, it may be in the best interest for the child. I can even see why she thinks that all her family thinks only about her money. And leaving your money to charity is not a crime. Where else would some very worthy organisations get their funding? But cutting your family completely off? That’s cold, yes.
Delia herself is judgemental and prejudiced at times. Because she’s such a nice and friendly person, she also easy to fool as she expects others t, be the same.
It’s difficult to attach one label on this book. It does start out as a cosy mystery with the book-club and the nice and pleasant job with friendly co-workers. But in the second half the pace picks up a bit and the suspense starts building up. It makes an attempt at some psychology as well. But in my opinion, the story falls down with an early reveal of the killer’s identity. From then on, we have to hope that they can catch him/her on time before more damage is done. The story was humorous at times and despite the hybrid of genres, it was a surprisingly pleasant and entertaining, quick read. It’s uplifting. I’d give it 3,5 as it’s not quite a 4.
The ending was a bit disappointing as well. I don’t like it when the knights in shiny armour have to come to the rescue. I prefer that the damsel in distress fights her own. But let’s be thankful for the police force, where would we be without them.
I thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the free ARC they gave me and this is my honest, unbiased review.
Then we meet Richard and Delia. Richard is recovering from a heart attack and has been given a motorhome by a well-meaning uncle. Now he has sent their children on European and African trips and he wants to travel around Australia for the next year with his wife. Delia is far less enthusiastic about this plan but is reluctant to bring it up. She enjoys her job in the local bank and her colleagues. One of her co-workers takes her to his book club in the house of a famous actress. There she learns that 4 of its members have died over the last months. As a fact, the widow of another member comes round to tell that her husband just died the previous night. Is this club cursed as one of its members thinks?
From here on, the book gets a bit strange. Delia receives a large sum and several bank-account numbers from the actress and doesn’t know what to think or do.
Most of the people in this little coastal town seem awfully nice, the book-club and colleagues but especially Andrew who’s so empathic and concerned. But we know from the start that there’s a murderer amongst them. It’s a bit disappointing that we learn his/her identity around half-way.
Karin, the actress is condemned rather harshly by Delia, but I can relate to some of the things she did. Giving up a child for adoption (for whatever reason) isn’t necessarily an evil or bad thing to do. I’m sure that most mothers find that a very difficult decision and even when they don’t hesitate, it may be in the best interest for the child. I can even see why she thinks that all her family thinks only about her money. And leaving your money to charity is not a crime. Where else would some very worthy organisations get their funding? But cutting your family completely off? That’s cold, yes.
Delia herself is judgemental and prejudiced at times. Because she’s such a nice and friendly person, she also easy to fool as she expects others t, be the same.
It’s difficult to attach one label on this book. It does start out as a cosy mystery with the book-club and the nice and pleasant job with friendly co-workers. But in the second half the pace picks up a bit and the suspense starts building up. It makes an attempt at some psychology as well. But in my opinion, the story falls down with an early reveal of the killer’s identity. From then on, we have to hope that they can catch him/her on time before more damage is done. The story was humorous at times and despite the hybrid of genres, it was a surprisingly pleasant and entertaining, quick read. It’s uplifting. I’d give it 3,5 as it’s not quite a 4.
The ending was a bit disappointing as well. I don’t like it when the knights in shiny armour have to come to the rescue. I prefer that the damsel in distress fights her own. But let’s be thankful for the police force, where would we be without them.
I thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the free ARC they gave me and this is my honest, unbiased review.
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