Thank you NetGalley and Allison & Busby for the chance to read and review A Taste for Killing!
Spoilers
In a small 1145. Godfrey Bowyer, one of the least likeable people in Worcester, dies a painful death by poisoning. Suspicion falls on a whole host of people; his wife Blanche, who ate the same meal but survived; his brother who is in a ton of debt and may have wanted his business; the cook who hated the wife and may have intended to kill her; the servant who was pregnant with the masters child; the man whose wife Godfrey harassed.
While A Taste of Killing is interesting, it's a slow read mostly because it's written in the same dialect that was used in 1145, which slows a reader down. That being said, it keeps your interest for the most part and you can tell that they aren't going to stop digging and take an easy answer.
I had no idea that taste for killing was part of a larger series when I requested it, so I'm not sure if the characters are growing or staying the same. I didn't find most of the characters memorable, all three of the men kinda blur into one for me, and as this was a series I've missed things like when Walkelin fell for Eluned, etc.
While I love Blanche as a character, I wasn't happy that she was the one who had done it. I feel like that was so easy to do as she's an outsider and suddenly that one priest remembers her. She was fairly smart to have gotten away with what look like 2 other deaths, and I don't think she would have risked this all so suddenly; there were too many loose ends for her to do this so suddenly.
Spoilers over
If you're reading this do keep in mind that Godfrey does totally deserve his end; he was pretty predatory towards a lot of women and an awful husband.