This book wasn’t for me. I think this qualifies as a “cozy mystery”, and apparently I don’t really like those. This is the first one I ever read (I think), so maybe I have to give the genre another chance? 

This book is the second book in the “Dedley End Mysteries”. I didn’t read the first one and I was hoping that wasn’t necessary for the second one. The plotline itself wasn’t linked to the previous book, but a lot of characters (or mention of characters) are, which made it confusing (and also not relevant to the plot). 

Our main character is Nancy, who owns a bookstore together with her grandmother, Jane, where they only sell mysteries and thrillers. Her close friend Jonathan, who is a reporter, helps them solving murders in their little town Dedley End. 

The plot was too slow for my liking. The first chapter, the prologue, someone gets killed and then they go back in time and takes too long to get to the point from the prologue. When they are searching for the killer it gets a bit faster again, but then something happens around the middle and it fell a bit flat. I skimmed through some of the chapters, until the end where it picks up again. 

I already guessed how it was gonna end, so that was a bummer. I like to be surprised in my mysteries/thrillers. 

There was also a lot of repetition. Our main character, Nancy, gets a lot of inner dialogue, which I normally don’t mind, but here she was constantly thinking the same thing. It got really on my nerves. 

I just wasn’t drawn into the story. It was almost a chore to read further. 

What I did like about the book, was the setting. I really want to visit rural England sometime. It sounds absolutely wonderful and I liked the descriptions of the little towns. 

I also enjoyed the process on how they uncovered the killer. As stated, I knew who it was already, but it was fun to see how the characters got to him. 

The writing style, apart from the repetitions, was quite nice to read. 

to summarise: even though this book sounded interesting, it didn’t really grasp me. I found it too slow, too predictable and too much repetition. 

I did like the setting and the process of the “whodunnit” though. 

I don’t know if I have to give the cozy mystery-genre another go.