Good Reads meta-data is 331 pages, rated 3.79 by 1726 litizens.
Genre: Krimi.
DNA: Kiwi.
Verdict: Trying (too hard).
Tagline: Abandon credulity all ye who read here.
Havelock North NZ pop. 14,500 in the wine country of Hawke’s Bay is the scene of much mayhem and even, perhaps, murder. Happily ensconced bookstore proprietors, who just happen to be retired Plods from Old Blighty, get drawn into this netherworld along with their dog, which has some of the best lines: ‘Arf!’ Their store is called Sherlock Tomes, and that bon mot is why I choose to read this book. But never judge a book by one clever twist. I tried and failed a time ago to read one featuring the Cat of the Baskervilles.
I found this one hard going wading through pages and pages of superfluous detail. True some of it redounded later, but it was impossible to detect which was relevant. TMI. About clothes, decor, food (including dog food), many other sidetracks. Even where life and limb is threatened, the proprietors cannot focus. Neither could this reader.
There is a lot to like about the plot but it was whitened out by the blizzard of ephemera. It was hard to believe that the original police investigation was as superficial as it seemed in retrospect. The disappearance of a school girl, followed by the departure of her best friend, the disappearance of a drug dealer, and the disappearance of $NZ100,000 all with a few days of each other, and only the first school girl was investigated. It was pretty clear that stereotyped FW was a blue herring from the get-go. He was too bad to be true. Likewise the multiple authorship which was hinted at in the text was on the cards.
I read it while sitting on a veranda looking out to the Pacific Ocean in Fiji. Lucky me. I left the paperback copy in the guest library of the Royal Davui Resort, August 2025. Perhaps the next reader will be more receptive and perceptive than me. This is the first of a series and ends with a cliff hanger to the next volume. Not for me.