Robyn Beecroft (1)

I liked the story, the mystery, the characters, and the setting. Rory especially appears to have an interesting backstory that I would like further elucidated.

It's rather a refreshing departure from the cozy trope that these amateur detectives are completely incompetent, nearly getting themselves killed, and the wrong person arrested, more than once.

There were several issues and inaccuracies, however, that prevented me from completely enjoying this cozy mystery.

1. There's a lot of talk of show more "obstruction of justice." Wouldn't that be called "perverting the course of justice" in England (nothing will convince me that the author is British)? And while the police threaten to charge our MCs for obstruction of justice after they merely talk to other witnesses, other characters can remove evidence (including the body) from the crime scene and destroy it with impunity. Heck, even the murderer isn't prosecuted!

2. The author seems to have no concept of how far "500 metres" (later "500 yards") is. For example, when a bus drops Haley off 500 yards from her suspect's house, she walks even further away to avoid being spotted from their window.

3. It seems inconceivable to me, in this day and age, that Haley wouldn't even suspect that Rory is gay, or have a word for her own asexuality. And while it's quite clear why Rory wouldn't tell his father he was gay, there's no reason he wouldn't mention it to Haley -- especially after Zach started dropping by the house. The author's apparent explanation -- that the MCs didn't want to hurt each others feelings? Even though they were "fake dating" they were afraid the other one was falling for them? -- well, I just don't buy it.

4. Several silly typos. Tory becomes Tori (and back again); Rod is called Rob.

Not bad; I expect I'll read the next one. Hopefully the author will pay for an editor this time. show less