So, the thing about drawing two plots that dovetail together over three books is that you really need the pay off to be fantastic. The also brings the past through line to fruition substantially before the reveal in the present plot, so you already know what one of the major things are by the time it’s explained in detail.

Then the other felt fairly contrived and for the sake of Agatha Christie novels quintessential ‘person least likely to do it’. Also David is a raging douche. I would just delete that character if I could. I guess the idea is Stevie is young and has hormones and that’s why she likes him. And hey, she didn’t communicate well either, but David is not the ying-to-the-yang of that dynamic at all. He’s just a dick.

There’s a new novel of this dropping in a month or two, I think. I don’t know if I’d want to try it. I really like some of the characters, especially Stevie. But... if it’s another start of a the book arc that would actually way better as one 500-600 page book—especially considering because it’s over three books plot points had to be continually restarted for readers who picked them up a year apart. Pretty annoying if you’re reading them one after another right away, though.