After reading this book, I looked it up on Amazon and read a few of the five-star and one-star ratings and found that I agreed with both sides.

There is no question about Morton’s skills. It is a beautiful bit of writing and a different kind of mystery. She was able to put a modern Scotland Yard detective on the trail of a mystery from the 1930’s–a really cold case–while letting us see the detective worry about being terminated for her actions in a current case.

While her writing is beautiful to read Morton spent too much time having her characters reminisce. There were whole chapters that ended with one paragraph of information we really needed. If you like character driven stories you will enjoy this book. I did a lot of skimming.

As has been true from Sherlock on, the case was solved and it was difficult to guess the ending before about the three-fourths mark. But after all the angst, Morton tied it all happily together and put a bow on top. The last two chapters were too cheesy.

Mike Lawrence