I was in the mood to read some cheesy detective novel today, and this was recommended for fans of Agatha Christie, etc…
… but my god! The horrors! The writing here is so awful. It’s not just that she’s heavy handed with the adjective and adverb sprinkling, but the way pronouns don’t always match up with what they’re referring to, and the weird similes, and the way the dialogues move…
Reading this is what I imagine having an aneurysm is like. Everything is strange and odd and nothing makes much sense.
I had to bail by page 30. It’s just too horrible.
As for the rest, the book didn’t live up to my expectations. Poor characterization simply killed the story for me. The characters were drawn in a strange way and their back stories were introduced awkwardly. I couldn’t understand their motivations and actions. Too often they acted immaturely (Yvette Nichol) or weirdly hysterical (Clara Morrow, Yolande). Dialog was very stilted at times too, often I had no idea what people were talking about and why they found certain things funny.
Still Life (2012) by Louise Penny (Buy new, buy used, 3.9 on Goodreads)