Enjoyable Read, But Falls Short!
I just don't seem to understand Donald Bain. His Murder, She Wrote mystery series seems to run hot and cold. You can enjoy one of the entries in this series and then be disappointed in another. As an avid mystery reader, they never seem to satisfy me. Reading the books in order, starting with Gin & Daggers, this is the ninth book in the series. By now, he's gotten the characters down a little better and it's always enjoyable to see Jessica Fletcher back in action. Once again, he hits on a great plot that seems right out of the television series. Jessica is given a free crossing on te QE2, provided she gives 2 lectures on writing a murder mystery and writes an audience participation murder-mystery for the guests on board to enjoy. During the crossing, one of the lecturers, an aging, has-been actress, is found dead in one of the life boats, naked as the day she was born. So, whodunnit? Again, a great plot and as always, Donald Bain describes the QE2 in detail and knows his facts. This has been his strongest point in all the novels. However, his mysteries just aren't what I look for in a Murder, She Wrote novel. Many of the suspects don't come alive. He creates a variety of mystery cliches, such as the ruthless TV Mogul, his sexy yet brainless trophy wife, the aging actress' handsome personal trainer, the money-hungry business manager and so on. But that's all they are, cliches. And to boot, with half of the suspects in this novel, Jessica never really has a sit down, face to face chat with. When the solution to the mystery is revealed, how can you really care about it, when you never really got to know the characters. Even the stereotypes in the board game clue have been brought to life enough that players of the board game know their backgrounds and motives for murder. However, the characters in this book are pretty dull. Donald Bain only lets us get to know a few of them. I have been giving this series three stars, because these books are breezy and easy to read. And for the most part, many fans seems to enjoy them. But I cannot honestly understand the glowing reviews and all the stars other readers seem to be rating these books. The best in the series, in my opinion, so far that has a satifsying ending was A Deadly Judgement. And even that wasn't great but was the best ending I've seen so far in the series. A nice twist with a fair play clue involved. I wanted to love Murder on the QE2. Up until the ending, I was enjoying it, but it's only once you finish the book that you realize you weren't given your entire serving. It's a fun, easy read with enjoyable characters and setting, but as a mystery, it's poorly done and not satisfying. As a side note, I enjoyed the play that Jessica created for the crossing and would have loved to have seen more of it unfold, including the ending...which is never revealed! I wonder if that's because the play is more in tune with what Jessica would have written on the television show, and that Donald Bain couldn't come up with that sort of cozy story? He seems to have a problem putting together logic puzzles like the show did every week. And once again, we have another conspiracy ending. Not as bad as it's been in the other novels, but it's still getting to be a bit tiresome. All in all, a good book, enjoyable read but a lackluster mystery!
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