I'm not sure why I couldn't get into this one more - the mystery was intricate enough, the suspects led the main on a merry enough chase through the town interviewing....but there seemed to some sense of lack of urgency. I didn't want the innocent guy to stay in jail and be sentenced to prison, but beyond that I couldn't focus on emotions other than the logics of it. It doesn't help that there isn't any humor, relationship spark, and that most of the characters get along so well.
It's an already established series, so that didn't help. All existing relationships already existed. I wasn't there through the wooing and excitement of the first meetings of friends, neighbors, boyfriends. The characters are decent, although the writing style takes a distant tone and approach so that it's difficult to engage as much on a feel level. It's kind of like watching a semi-dry movie where a person goes through the motions to solve a crime.
As a cozy, the theme is fixer-up kind of stuff, but the book doesn't get into too many technically details of that thankfully. There is little on decoration or design really - and the bonds that exist are realistic feeling, but again just didn't captivate me.
Overall it's not a bad mystery, but not one I had a lot of chemistry with. I figured out the culprit early on, not because of clues, but just a strange instinctual feeling.
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