This was a pretty easy read, but nothing special. It did have some pretty dodgy elements, the majority of which I’d like to think are products of the time it was written. 

Everything came together in the end, and we got all the answers, but most felt pretty anticlimactic and matter of fact. I also thought it was pretty unbelievable that all the characters were so intertwined, and I really don't see the point of the axe murderer stuff at all apart from as some kind of red herring? At times it felt like I was being bounced all over the place with the different storylines, in an erratic, confusing way, rather than an interesting, interconnected mystery. 

The ‘ni-ev’ pronunciation of Niamh in this audiobook is WILD. It’s Neve, not whatever the hell Jameson was doing. 

Also, Jackson is so weirdly horny. Almost every single woman he encounters turns him on... and he’s always misogynistic and objectifying about it. Pretty weird coming from a female author. If the book knew he was being an arse and making commentary on it that would be different, but we're just presented with it as fact, and no further commentary is made. 

The worst part was the n-word cat name. It was COMPLETELY unnecessary. If Atkinson wanted to show the old bat’s racist character, she didn’t actually have to use the word itself. Or if she was dead set on the bat calling the cat it, she didn’t have to actually write it out, then have the characters saying it all the bloody time. And then for the choice to be made in c.2015 to read it out loud so much?? Eesh. I’m sure Jackson's best friend was black purely in an attempt to make it seem slightly less bad (and probably a choice made by the editor, rather than Atkinson).
 
I will be continuing the series, because I’ve been recommended the 4th and 5th books, but wanted to read from the beginning. If this was a book I’d come across naturally, I would not be continuing.  What strange choices authors make…