THE CHIDHAM CREEK MURDERS by Pauline Rowson

 2.5* Sadly, this is full of irrelevant details, has detectives who assume loads but detect little, and it waffles a lot. It's just not believable, especially with the bad guy/s. This is the first disappointing Joffe Books book I've read. 

This isn't horrible, but goodness does it bog you down in the weeds. There are too many irrelevant characters, too much irrelevant detail and tbh, it needs a good edit. It feels like the first draft of a novel that's not seen an editor.

The plot is convoluted and requires suspension of disbelief. The bad guy/s came out of nowhere and sadly, didn't seem believable. I did like that the 70yo Juliette turned out to be a femme noire, but again, it didn't really feel believable. The Rodney stuff was dragged out and tedious, though he had a basic relevance to the plot. The attempt at red herrings with the funeral director was too transparent. I'm sorry, but this book needs quite a bit of editing before it's ready to be released. The Hallet guy and his partner could have been entirely removed from the tale without affecting it. The friend of Horton's who ran a PI agency wasn't relevant either. Sadly  there was just too much filler in this.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Joffe Books for my reading pleasure.

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