17.03.26
I enjoy Alice Bell's idiosyncratic and effervescent style of storytelling so much that I was uncharacteristically willing to pay more than 99p for the ebook. Yet the little asides and esoteric cultural references, and even the relentless Britishness of it all, quickly become confusing and, ultimately, irritating, to the extent that this reads like a parody of her previous books. Another novel that would have benefited from another edit and proofread before publishing.
12.07.24
Something about this series is really engaging. Is it the effusive and well-placed swearing? Yes. Is it the eccentric British humour? Yes. Is it the surprisingly complex dynamic between the main character and the ghost that haunts her? Yes. Admittedly, this was rougher round the edges than Grave Expectations (and needed another proofread - but thanks to the author for acknowledging our work anyway) but it's basically just uncomplicated fun.
This was never going to be high literature or deeply poetic but it was a fun, funny and well written update of the supernatural murder mystery genre - the realistic volume of swearing and a non-binary character could upset die-hard (ha!) cosy mystery fans but it worked for me. It did wander a bit in the middle (as did the main character - it's always best to focus on one location in stories like this) but, overall, it was dead good (ha again!).
