The story concept is strong, the humour is definitely here, but the writing is weak. Way too many needless details, a tendency to tell more than show and in terms of 'solving' the not-really-a-mystery, not enough transparency of clues to the reader. There's a fine line between telegraphing the plot to readers too early with bulky clues, and keeping them completely in the dark until the end when the MC says "I knew all along; I had it figured out from the first." and then not explain why she knew all along. Character developments were pretty choppy too.
In spite of all of this though, it was a surprisingly readable, almost compellingly so, book. It definitely needs a strong editor and a lot of re-writes, but as is, it's still a fun read, once you get past the first couple of chapters, which is only something I was able to do because I had no other book available at that moment. I'd have DNF'd it otherwise. As it is, I was entertained in much the same way a B movie entertains: it was fun and frivolous.
This is the first in a series, but unless there's been some draconian editing done in them, I'm not likely to read any further.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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2 July, 2018:
Finished reading
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2 July, 2018:
Reviewed
