A Most Novel Revenge by Ashley WeaverMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Three and a half stars.
Amory and Milo are invited to a country house party by Amory's cousin Laurel. The house, owned by Reggie Lyons, was the scene of a terrible tragedy several years ago, made notorious by a thinly veiled novel about the incident written by one of the guests, Isobel, which accused another guest, Bradford Glenn, of committing murder which led to him taking his own life.
Now the remaining guests have gathered again at Lyonsgate and Laurel is concerned that there is a strange atmosphere, Isobel has announced that she was wrong to accuse Bradford and intends to write a second volume. Sure enough tensions are rising and later Amory finds Isobel dead.
Although I continue to enjoy these novels I have to confess that they all seem to follow the same path, Amory interviews everyone, suspects the wrong person and then Milo speaks to a chap at his club or a man he meets in the pub and gets the information that cracks open the case. Also, more disappointingly, I guessed the murderer about half-way through the book, although perhaps not for the right reasons, and there was a fortuitous discovery which neatly explained three or four different plot lines. I like my mysteries written so that I can, if I read the clues correctly, see the detective process in action whereas these books tend to rely on the murderer confessing and Milo just happening to talk to someone who knows something that no-one else does.
I will definitely continue reading these books but I am hoping that the next murder is solved based on clues dropped throughout the book and not just a pile of papers discovered at the last minute.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment