The supporting characters of Mayor Pierson and his mobster friend Ashworth were far more interesting than the protagonists or the mystery. I want to know about their friendship.

The portions of the novel where Evelyn was in the lab alternating between analyzing data and making investigative leaps were too few compared to her mental complaints about her ex-husband and his new wife. Don't get me wrong, character background is extremely important in crime novels to assess motivations, but this just wasn't an effective way to go about it.

(Also? Grumpy, sullen teenagers are so boring to read about.)

The attempt at romance between Evie and the new homicide detective was badly done. There was a resolute lack of chemistry between them for all the emotions the author was telling me they were feeling after only a few days. The epilogue (

complete with declaration of love barely a handful of weeks after the story

) really only does more awkward damage.