Twice in a Blue Moon
by Patricia Moyes
I've never read anything by Patricia Moyes, but she's a Big Name Author in mystery circles, so I figured I'd give her a try. Perhaps this book, the nineteenth in Moyes' Henry and Emmy Tibbit series, was the wrong book to start with. I must now admit that I read this in about twenty minutes this morning. No, not the whole thing. I read the first chapter, decided I knew whodunit and read the last two chapters to see if I was right. I was. End of story.
It's entirely possible that the chapters in between were funny, charming, and an excellent reading experience. But this is a mystery, and I've always thought the first responsibility of a mystery novel is to be mysterious. One of the reasons I like mysteries so much is that the good ones are like puzzles I get to solve while I'm reading. If I know who the murderer is after one chapter, there's no puzzle. Add to this the fact that this particular plot was a cliche as far back as the thirties, and I'm just glad I didn't lay out the money for the book.
I can't get her popularity out of my mind, though, so perhaps I should try the first book in the series. That's usually the best one anyway.
by Patricia Moyes
I've never read anything by Patricia Moyes, but she's a Big Name Author in mystery circles, so I figured I'd give her a try. Perhaps this book, the nineteenth in Moyes' Henry and Emmy Tibbit series, was the wrong book to start with. I must now admit that I read this in about twenty minutes this morning. No, not the whole thing. I read the first chapter, decided I knew whodunit and read the last two chapters to see if I was right. I was. End of story.
It's entirely possible that the chapters in between were funny, charming, and an excellent reading experience. But this is a mystery, and I've always thought the first responsibility of a mystery novel is to be mysterious. One of the reasons I like mysteries so much is that the good ones are like puzzles I get to solve while I'm reading. If I know who the murderer is after one chapter, there's no puzzle. Add to this the fact that this particular plot was a cliche as far back as the thirties, and I'm just glad I didn't lay out the money for the book.
I can't get her popularity out of my mind, though, so perhaps I should try the first book in the series. That's usually the best one anyway.
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