CBR16 Bingo: Games – Alice and her friends take up the murder investigation as diversion more than anything else while waiting to give birth, though things aren’t all fun and games for very long.
Alice and her partner Joe move to the countryside hoping to raise their soon-to-be born son in a peaceful environment, but that peace is shattered when a local store owner is found murdered during the course of an eventful antenatal class.
I’ve read plenty of flavors of cozy mystery, but a group of detectives in the final trimester of pregnancy is definitely not one I’ve seen before. Add in plenty of humor and a number of ill-behaved dogs, and I was sold.
And this is definitely a funny, relatable read, with a likeable lead who has a whole host of ordinary problems – worry about being a good parent! The difficulty of making friends in adulthood! A partner who may be retreating when one needs them the most – and into right wing politics at that! Supporting and secondary characters were well-fleshed out and just fun to be around, and I enjoyed the dry wit of Alice’s narration. The mystery itself was engaging, even if it unravels a bit messily toward the end.
However, the pacing could have been tighter. After an engaging start, things sagged toward the middle, and while the end tried to recollect itself it sort of collapsed in on itself as revelations came hard and fast – that I’d guessed some of the twists already helped only a little. Especially considering the solution to the mystery, I’d had appreciated seeing more of the aftermath than we were offered. Also Alice was even for a blunt person sometimes frustratingly obvious in her questioning, putting her foot in her mouth seemingly just to extend the tension.
I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Kitty Kelly. I thought she did a good job of capturing Alice’s wry humor, as well as being suitably somber when the story called for it. A decent diversity of accents helped with telling the large cast apart.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.